The Steelers are now 9-12 on Thursday under Mike Tomlin, 2-10 on the road, and 0-7 in the division on the road. And they’re no closer to answers for any of it, based on comments coming out of the locker room. After last night’s 33-31 loss to the Bengals, every player asked insists they felt prepared, and have no explanation for what happened.
“No. I mean, we’ve just got to execute better and come out with a win”, Pat Freiermuth said when asked if he can put a finger on why they struggled in Thursday road games, via the Steelers’ website. Said Alex Highsmith, “I feel like we do a good job preparing for them. I feel like we had a good week of practice. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what happens at practice. You’ve got to come out here and execute, and we didn’t do that tonight”.
The Steelers are 7-2 under Tomlin on Thursdays at home, but for some reason, they are absolutely terrible on the road. Most teams are bad on short weeks on the road, but the Steelers are uniquely bad. When matched against their home success, their road struggles are hard to fathom. Even for the players.
“We had good preparation, good walkthrough, good practice. It’s just unfortunate”, Patrick Queen said after the Steelers’ loss Thursday. “I felt like we had good momentum, felt like we practiced good, felt good going into the game. We’ve just got to go out, execute better, play better, play more physical, be who we are”.
While the Bengals were the home team, they arguably should have had a harder time. After all, they were starting a quarterback they just acquired last week. QB Joe Flacco even admitted after the game that he didn’t understand some of the plays they called. He essentially winged it at times—and it worked. I guess the Steelers didn’t adequately prepare for the chaos Thursday could bring.
“I think it’s tough for everybody to play this quick of a schedule”, T.J. Watt said, unwilling to make excuses for the Steelers’ Thursday struggles when the Bengals were in the same boat. “But if they’re going through it, we should be able to figure it out as well”.
Fortunately for the Steelers, they don’t have to play on Thursday again this year. Of their 11 remaining games, 10 are on Sundays, with one game on a Monday. They have no more short weeks, but they do have a tougher schedule than what they’ve already played. At least, that’s how it reads on paper—and realistically, most likely how it plays out.
And it’s not like the Steelers don’t still hold a 1.5-game lead in the AFC North. At 4-2, they are the only team with a non-losing record. Even after beating the Steelers on Thursday, the Bengals are still 3-4. The division is far from over, but Pittsburgh is in a far better position than anybody else. Record-wise, at least.
