The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense was bad for large stretches of the team’s 33-31 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. And with a mini bye ahead of them, Steelers LB Patrick Queen said it’s not a loss that the team can let linger. Speaking to reporters after the game, Queen said the Steelers “just gotta get back to work.”
“This sucks, but it’s in the past now. Now we gotta look at the film whenever we come in and build and be better. Still early in the season, nothing’s out of reach, still in position to do what we want to do, so we just gotta get back to work,” Queen said via video posted by Chris Adamski of TribLive on Twitter.
The Steelers had a chance to escape Paycor Stadium and the land of Skyline Chili with a win, had they gotten a stop on their final defensive drive. But an eight-play, 52-yard drive that chewed all but seven seconds off the clock and ended with a go-ahead field goal ruined Pittsburgh’s hope of a victory. Queen, who admitted the whole game was “pretty shitty,” said it was a problem that the defense failed to show up on the last drive.
“It sucks. That’s what you live for. Them moments right there. Had a pretty shitty game the whole game. Then, we had a chance right there to be big for the team and we came up short,” Queen said via video posted by The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo on Twitter.
It’s not worth dwelling on a loss and bad performance. It’s understandable to see where Queen is coming from. But at some point, this defense is going to need to have uncomfortable conversations. Whether it’s coming from each other or the coaching staff, it’s a unit that simply hasn’t been good enough. Tonight was the third game this season where the Steelers have allowed 30+ points against them. And they allowed a Bengals team that was the worst rushing team in the league coming in to gash them for 6.2 yards per carry and 142 yards.
If the Steelers are going to actually contend, something has to change. The Steelers will see their warts during film, but watching the film and moving on might not be good enough anymore, given this team’s struggles. Some of it was more on coaching than the execution, but the execution was far from good enough tonight.
The Steelers have talent on defense. They need to figure out how to make the most of it, and just simply moving on might not be the best way to sort out their problems.
