Last Thursday night’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals has noted Pittsburgh Steelers fan Stephen A. Smith running for the hills. Though Pittsburgh sits 4-2 and atop of the AFC North, Smith thinks the Bengals loss could be a sign of things to come. With a tough schedule ahead, the Steelers could be on the verge of a losing streak that would tank a promising start.
“We have to say this,” Smith said Wednesday on ESPN’s First Take “This is on the verge of being a very, very bad doom-and-gloom year for Mike Tomlin.”
Smith had repeatedly criticized Tomlin and the Steelers for failing to find a quarterback to complement the rest of the team. Like many teams after closing the book on a franchise quarterback the way Pittsburgh did with Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers have struggled to find a long-term option. Kenny Pickett wasn’t the right successor while Mitch Trubisky and Russell Wilson proved to be stop-gap options instead of multi-year solutions.
Aaron Rodgers won’t be the long-term answer, either, but is providing easily the best quarterback play Pittsburgh’s received in years. Arguably, the best since Roethlisberger in 2018. And yet that might not be enough for the Steelers to get over the hump, leading to Smith’s weighty comments.
“You got a quarterback now,” Smith said. “And he’s playing well. And your defense, the Pittsburgh Steelers, you have a horrible defense. Think about that. When had we ever thought we would say that about the Pittsburgh Steelers?”
The defense may not reach the levels of “horrible” but the group has certainly been disappointing. Even Tomlin admitted as much yesterday, noting the supposedly strong secondary Pittsburgh pieced together hadn’t lived up to expectations. But Tomlin is confident things can and will change. Smith, clearly, is more pessimistic.
The next month of games will serve as a litmus test of sorts. Pittsburgh faces talented quarterbacks and potent offenses in Green Bay and Indianapolis the next two weeks. The Los Angeles Chargers aren’t as strong as preseason projections but the Steelers will still have to travel and face a top-10 quarterback in Justin Herbert before hosting the Bengals in a Week 11 rematch. At the least, Pittsburgh needs to make it through that slate 2-2 and ideally exit it 3-1.
If one of those wins can come against Cincinnati, it’ll set the Steelers up well for a stretch run that will feature plenty of divisional action. And calm down a clearly nervous Stephen A. Smith.
