Pittsburgh Steelers Post-Game: Reaching the Quad

The unthinkable has happened. When the Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in Pittsburgh in the season finale 19-17, that became Pittsburgh’s fourth straight loss to close the 2024 campaign. We all saw this coming when the season schedules were released. Four straight games against the Eagles, Ravens, Chiefs, and Bengals. All thought to be exceptionally good teams.

They called it the “gauntlet” and boy was it ever. Four games, four losses, all but one blowouts. The first three of those matchups between Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Kansas City, those teams won their respective divisions, and their combined record is 40-9. As I wrote before in past reviews and wrap-ups, the 2024 Steelers were a smoke screen. They all had us believing at 10-3 they were one of the NFL’s best teams. Then came the juggernaut and that just showed, the Steelers don’t belong with big boys.

Furthermore, I believe that something I indicated in an earlier article rang absolutely true again in the loss to Cincinnati. I said without an elite quarterback, the Steelers will never reach the Super Bowl. In these four straight losses, Pittsburgh’s defense was up against four of the finest quarterbacks in the league all with elite offenses that can score at will. You saw the results.

There are some saying Joe Burrow should be the league’s M.V.P. At Acrisure Stadium he showed why. My contention was that last Saturday, Russell Wilson had to ball out to show Steelers Nation he can be a topflight quarterback. Against the Bengals, he failed miserably. Common thought is that when a team is down with under five minutes to play in a game, you want your quarterback to be able to put together a game winning drive. Wilson had several opportunities to do that and without putting the entire blame on his shoulders (as other offensive players contributed to the inability to win the game), Wilson did not come through.

More than ever, Russell Wilson looks like the quarterback he was in Denver last year when he was benched. Through the first six games with Justin Fields behind center the team won four of six. Since then, with Wilson calling the signals, Pittsburgh’s record is 6-7. Go figure. In my preview for this game, I said Mike Tomlin should have started Fields as the team was already heading to the postseason so we could get an idea if he could bring something better to the table. 

Here is some food for thought. In comparing Justin Fields’ performances in the first four games of the season versus the numbers Russell Wilson has put up the last four games of the season, it’s a bit eye opening. Keeping in mind that Fields was facing four teams that did not finish the season as well as the last four Wilson faced, still, two of the four teams Justin played against have made the playoffs as a wild card. Wilson’s foes included three playoff teams, but three teams that all won their respective divisions. 

So, looking at the numbers, in Wilson’s last four games, he has thrown for 698 yards while in the first four games of the season, Justin Fields was at 830 yards. Wilson has completed 61.79% of his 123 pass attempts and Fields 70.64% of his 109 throws. From the Eagles to the Bengals, Wilson threw only four touchdown passes. Fields? One less at three. Interceptions? Two to one in favor of Wilson. 

How about quarterback rating? Wilson has gone over 90 twice in his last four games, Fields was over that mark in each of the first four games with a high of 104 when he played for the Colts. Wilson’s high mark over the last four games of the season was 94.5 playing the Eagles, a team he had never lost to until that day. We all know how athletic Justin Fields is, so he obviously runs with the ball better than Russell Wilson. In his first four games Fields rushed for 145 yards and a 3.8 per carry mark. He also reached the end zone three times.

As for Wilson, his total is 111 yards and a per carry average of 6.5 but much of that stems from a 55-yard total in the Kansas City game. Wilson was sacked 14 times in the final four games where Fields went down just 10 in the first four. Finally, there are the fumbles. Fields with four and Wilson with three.

So, what’s my point? Heading into Baltimore this Saturday for the first round wild card matchup, I had suggested starting Justin Fields. Pittsburgh’s offense needs a spark and perhaps this is the man to provide that. However, Russell Wilson has been there done that in the postseason and was the quarterback for a Super Bowl winning team. That experience carries weight. But with the hiring of Arthur Smith before the season started, the offense under Smith has hardly wowed anyone. Consider this, the Pittsburgh Steelers failed to score on their first possession of the game in ALL 17 games. That’s embarrassing. 

More low points…in the last 10 games, the offense has turned the ball over at least once in each game. During the final four games of the regular season, Pittsburgh has failed to score more than 17 points in a game. Turning to the defense, in the Bengals game, superstar T.J. Watt failed to register any statistics. That’s a hard pill to swallow. With the regular season over the Steelers finished 23rd in total offense. Teams like the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals were ahead of them. Seattle and Dallas were ahead of Pittsburgh. 

With Justin Fields and then Russell Wilson, Pittsburgh was 27th overall in passing. What was supposed to be a brutal running attack finished 2024 as the 11th best rushing team. Was Arthur Smith an improvement over Matt Canada? It certainly doesn’t seem it. As we enter the playoffs, if Pittsburgh loses to the Ravens for the second time this season it will mark Mike Tomlin’s fifth straight one and done playoff appearance.

As the Steelers head to Baltimore riding a four-game losing streak, only two teams in history have experienced that same kind of playoff entry. The 1999 Detroit Lions and the 1986 New York Jets both lost their final four games before having a playoff game. Leave it to the Steelers to make history. Seems like situations like that making some kind of negative history has happened several times in the past.

Mike Tomlin spoke about what’s ahead: 

“We’re in a single-elimination tournament now, so we better turn our attention toward playing good football and better than we have particularly in recent weeks.”

No kidding Mike. He again called the team’s performance against Cincinnati “JV.” He said the same thing about the game with the Chiefs. Truth is, the Steelers are just not as good as we thought, and they should admit so and not make excuses. They’ve had four games to prove otherwise and showed us nothing. Are the Steelers good enough to go into Baltimore and win a playoff game? I think if they play their “A” game, then it is a yes. Do I expect a victory on Saturday, no way.

As for that failure to score on an opening drive this season, just a side note. The last time the offense did that was when Mason Rudolph led a scoring drive in the 15th game last season. Since that time, Pittsburgh has a record of 0-19 when not scoring on the first possession.



All signs point to yet another one and done playoff run and then Steelers Nation will be fuming and asking, “now what.” Adam Schefter, NFL experts went on air this week to say he expects general managers from other NFL teams to be calling the Steelers once the season is done to test the waters of a possible trade with Pittsburgh for Mike Tomlin. A loss to Baltimore and a fifth consecutive one game and out for Tomlin will only stir those waters.