The feeling of confusion and anger that permeated the Pittsburgh Steelers’ fan base was echoed inside the team’s locker room following a Thursday night loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. A golden opportunity to take firm control of the AFC North squandered to a 40-year-old QB in Joe Flacco, acquired less than two weeks ago in a rare intra-division trade.
“I was at locker room last night, and there was a mix of confusion and really anger,” ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler said Friday on SportsCenter. “Talking to Cam Heyward, T.J. Watt, they were just talking about how unacceptable this performance was. Mainly from a run-defense standpoint. We know that Joe Flacco was getting his yards and Ja’Marr Chase can go off when he does get one-on-one coverage.
“They want to clean up their matchups on the back end, but they feel like that is only elevated when you can get it done with the run defense. The Steelers have always prided themselves on that.”
While Flacco and WR Ja’Marr Chase posted career-like performances, the most troubling part of the loss was Pittsburgh’s faulty run defense. A group that had just come off a great outing against the Cleveland Browns, making them one-dimensional and overwhelming their pass game because of it. The Bengals entered Week 7 with a historically bad running game but had its best showing of the season. In fact, 30 percent of the team’s rushing yards for the entire season came against the Steelers.
“And they just felt like they fell short in that area,” Fowler said of Pittsburgh’s run defense. “So it’s gonna be a hard 10 days for this team. We’re talking to linebacker Patrick Queen. He was just talking about like how they weren’t in the right places. There was miscommunication and in Week 7 for a team that’s supposed to be a divisional leader.”
After the Steelers dropped to 4-2 players like Queen and DL Cam Heyward repeated the fact that the Steelers didn’t play sound run defense. Players not doing their jobs and staying in their gaps, allowing RB Chase Brown to average over 9.5 yards on 11 carries. He’s the first runner to do so against Pittsburgh in 35 years.
In coverage, the Steelers struggled to come up with answers against Chase and company. Zone, man, and every cornerback on the roster failed to make plays. On the Bengals’ game-winning drive, Chase was left open twice to get the Bengals into field goal range. WR Tee Higgins’ long catch down the left sideline cemented an easy kick and Bengals win.
Pittsburgh must quickly right its wrongs. Avoiding the team’s first losing streak of the season means beating the Green Bay Packers next Sunday night. A team with an established running game, strong pass rush, and plenty of juice in the pass game, all of which makes Green Bay a Super Bowl contender. Another loss will make for an even harder seven days after that.
