Steelers’ Playoff Woes Continue: A Frustrating End to the Season
In the world of professional football, few things are as disheartening as a promising season ending in disappointment. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, this narrative has become all too familiar. On a chilly Saturday night in Baltimore, the Steelers’ season came to a screeching halt with a 28-14 AFC wild-card loss to the Ravens. The loss marked the Steelers’ sixth playoff defeat in eight seasons, a pattern that has left fans and players alike searching for answers.
Safety DeShon Elliott, who joined the Steelers just this season, didn’t hold back his frustration. “I know that in the past we’ve played well in the beginning of the season, and then we just s— the bed at the end, and same s— happened this year,” Elliott candidly expressed. The Steelers closed out their season on a five-game losing streak, including the playoffs, a trend that has become all too common for the team.
Despite taking different paths to the playoffs each year, the Steelers have consistently found themselves exiting early. In recent years, they’ve managed to clinch playoff berths in the final week of the season, only to falter in their first postseason game. The 2020 season saw them start 11-0 before losing four of their final five games. In 2017, they won the AFC North and hosted the Jacksonville Jaguars after a first-round bye, yet the result was the same: a one-and-done playoff appearance.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, when asked about this recurring pattern, focused on the present. “I’m just assessing what transpired tonight,” he said. “As I told you guys earlier in the week, those are my bags, not this collective’s bags. And so my energy is on that group in there and what they were willing to give and the journey that we’ve been on this year and certainly it came to a disappointing end tonight.”
The game against the Ravens was a familiar nightmare for the Steelers. Falling behind early, they trailed 21-0 at halftime, marking their second-largest halftime playoff deficit behind the 25-point hole to the Browns in 2020. Edge rusher T.J. Watt summed up the sentiment, “Losing sucks. Losing five in a row to finish the season out sucks. Felt like we had a good week of prep. Felt like we were ready for this one. We weren’t. We weren’t able to stop the run. Haven’t been able to stop the run. We weren’t able to get it fixed. So, it’s been rough last month of football.”
Since the 2016 AFC Championship Game loss to the New England Patriots, the Steelers have been outscored by a combined 96 points and outgained by 641 yards in their past six playoff losses. Defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, a veteran of these losses, remarked, “It’s tough in a game, but can’t whine about it. They’re going to make plays, but we have to make our own plays, and we did not do that.”
The Ravens, on the other hand, executed their game plan to perfection. MVP candidate Lamar Jackson and running back Derrick Henry combined for 71 rushing yards on their opening drive, culminating in a 15-yard touchdown catch by Rashod Bateman. The Ravens’ second scoring drive was a masterclass in rushing, covering 98 yards exclusively on the ground and ending with an 8-yard touchdown by Henry. By the end of the night, the Ravens had amassed 299 rushing yards against a Steelers defense once known for its stout run defense.
Elliott summed up the defensive struggles, “Having 300 yards rushing on you is worse than having 300 yards passing. It was like a will. They definitely put belt to butt today.”
As the Steelers’ season ended with a whimper, players struggled to articulate what needed to change. “It’s too fresh,” Watt admitted. “I don’t know. I don’t have the answers. Clearly, if I had the answers, I would’ve done something differently this week. I felt like we had a good week, good week of prep. Felt like we had a relatively healthy set of guys, especially defensively, put the pads on. I felt like we had a physical practice week and didn’t correlate.”
Despite the uncertainty, one thing was clear: the players stood by their coach. “I don’t worry about Mike’s message,” Heyward said. “I worry about our technique and our execution. That’s what I’m really worried about. I just wish we had played a lot better. It’s not a message thing, it’s not that’s groundbreaking, but there were opportunities to be had, and we didn’t seize anything.”
- Steelers’ playoff struggles continue with another early exit.
- DeShon Elliott voices frustration over team’s recurring issues.
- Coach Mike Tomlin focuses on the present, not past patterns.
- Ravens dominate with 299 rushing yards against Steelers.
- Players support Tomlin, emphasize need for better execution.
Originally Written by: Brooke Pryor
