Steelers-Chiefs Wrap - Are the Black and Gold a Smoke Screen?

Before the Steelers lost on Christmas Day to the Kansas City Chiefs in a blowout 29-10, I wrote in the preview for that game that two words described the state of the Steelers. “In trouble.” Now following this third straight loss by Pittsburgh I have two new words… “MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT.”

A little while back, ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike co-host and former NFL player Chris Canty was giving his opinions on what teams were for real and what teams were frauds. As difficult as it might be to say as a diehard Steelers fan, Canty said the Steelers were frauds. I’m sorry Steelers Nation but he was dead on. With a 10-3 record there was talk about the Steelers possibly making the Super Bowl. Then came the dreaded “gauntlet.” Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Kansas City. 

The Eagles, Ravens, and Chiefs all have proven they are among the league’s elite. Pittsburgh had a chance to prove they belonged with them. They have failed…miserably. What we know now and a question I posed in my last article is “how good are the Steelers really?” So, it’s obviously apparent that the Steelers are just not that good. In those three losses combined, Pittsburgh has been outscored 90-40. That’s not being competitive.

Following this latest loss, I read comments from some of the Steelers players, and they are trying to say how badly they played and making excuse after excuse. Mike Tomlin went as far as to say it was like “JV football.” Russell Wilson on the other hand took no responsibility only to say the team needs to play “cleaner.” What? In the last two games Wilson made three critical errors, two costly interceptions and a terrible inexcusable fumble. 

Here’s the cold hard truth. The Kansas City Chiefs won this game because they are FAR and beyond a better team than Pittsburgh. I really didn’t think the defense played that poorly, they were just up against a superior offense. The Chiefs have lost just once this season to Buffalo and by beating the Steelers they now own the #1 seed in the AFC. What does that mean? A first-round bye and a divisional playoff game at home. If they win that one, they stay at home for the AFC championship. Watching them Saturday, my opinion is that nobody is going to Arrowhead and beating the Chiefs. 

Russell Wilson has now engineered more losses than Justin Fields did in the first six games he started. In reaching a 10-3 record, the Steelers did defeat several teams that still might reach the post season. Those would be Atlanta, Denver, and the Chargers. When it came to playing the teams already in the playoffs and those are Washington, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and on Christmas Day Kansas City, the Steelers lost three of four. The combined records of the Falcons, Broncos, and Chargers is 29-7. As for Washington, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Kansas City, their combined record as of today is 48-14.

In those three victories against Atlanta, Denver, and Los Angeles, the average margin of victory was just 5.3 points. In the last three losses the average margin of losing for the Steelers was 16.6. You get the picture? The Pittsburgh Steelers are a particularly good team. But that’s where it ends. They have discovered they are NOT an elite team. At this point regardless of what happens in the finale with the Bengals, Pittsburgh will have a wild card game in the first round. Their opponent is yet to be determined but it appears it will be either Denver, the Chargers, or the Texans. While the Steelers might be able to come up with a game plan to defeat any of those three teams, after that in the next round I can’t see them getting past a Kansas City, Buffalo, or Baltimore team.

If this playoff run turns into a one and done, I’m sure there will be those blaming Mike Tomlin (again), but the fact is that this current snide the team is on is only because this Steelers team is not in the same league as the Eagles, Ravens, or Chiefs. If I’m wrong about this, then hey Steelers prove me wrong. So, with the title of this article, “A Smoke Screen” that is referring to the 10-3 start and us believing we were better than we are. As I said in my previous preview, this is like the 2020 11-0 start where there was talk about possibly going undefeated and then to see the season go down the tubes with four losses in the final five and a one game out in the post season. 

Here we are again four years later, a great seasonal start, now on a three-game losing skid that could easily turn into four in the final week of the season. Now we must ask ourselves, what is missing from being one of the elite? I listened to NFL expert Adam Scheffler this morning saying Russell Wilson will be back in 2025. Team President Art Rooney II said after last season’s playout out in the opening round that “we need better quarterback play.” Well, Wilson started off rather good, had a monster game in Cincinnati, but now the last three games he has played the same way that got him benched in Denver last year. Since their last victory against the Browns, Wilson is averaging 177 yards passing per game. In four games he passed for 708 yards while on Christmas, Patrick Mahomes threw for 320…in one game. A week before beating the Texans, Mahomes added another 260. Do you get the picture?

I said in my preview the only way the Steelers start seriously competing for a Super Bowl is with an elite quarterback. Right now, they do not have one. Justin Fields? We haven’t seen him because he is injured. If he is healthy for the Bengals finale, he should start. As I said before, let Wilson walk and bring back Fields and search for another young quarterback. But according to Scheffler, Wilson will return. Why? Because he explained what else are they going to do? 

The Steelers won’t be in a position to grab one of the promising QBs coming into the draft. There are no solid and even near elite quarterbacks entering free agency when the season ends, so we are stuck with Fields and Wilson. How else can the team improve? The defense seems solid. However, when the offense is not producing, it puts heavy pressure on the defense and while it seems there is a lot of talent on that side of the ball, perhaps they are not playing to potential or maybe even they are not as good as we thought and we were provided a smoke screen when they were getting lots of turnovers and creating big plays against lesser teams. 

Again, the bottom line is easy to read. This Steelers team cannot compete with the elite teams of the league. Good enough to earn a playoff spot, not good enough to get to the Super Bowl for the ninth time. At this point we can wish for a first-round lesser opponent then enjoy one victory because unless they all the sudden find the talent within themselves that can make them better than the other top three AFC teams.

Looking back at this last loss, the Chiefs were not so effective in running the ball, but Patrick Mahomes is proving he may be the GOAT and not Tom Brady. Shame on the Steelers defense for not finding a way to pressure Mahomes because he was not sacked once, and he did not throw a single interception. He completed 29 of 38 passes for an outstanding rating of 127.1. Once again, Travis Kelce was a Steelers killer with 84 yards and a score. Xavier Worthy added 79 more and he scored too. Even Justin Watson found the end zone with two receptions for 60 yards. Eight different receivers caught a Mahomes pass. 

The Steelers defense managed just two quarterback hits. Kansas City’s weakness was supposed to be their offensive line. That’s a joke if you watch what they did last Wednesday. Pittsburgh had just two tackles for a loss. The offense was worse. So much for George Pickens coming back to play. Targeted seven times, he caught only three passes. The running game seemed to be effective with Najee Harris finishing with 74 yards on the ground and Jaylen Warren 71. So, the failures boil down to one fact. This was on the passing game.

Wilson’s rating was almost half of what Patrick Mahomes finished with (65.7). He fumbled once but didn’t turn it over. However, he threw another interception which was costly. Wilson was sacked five times, and you must wonder with Justin Fields’ athleticism would he have gone down five times? Some of the credit for failure must be placed on the offensive line but much more is on Wilson’s shoulders and unlike Ben Roethlisberger who many times took responsibility for lack of success on his side of the ball, Wilson refuses to do that. 



So, Steelers Nation, it was fun while it lasted. Right now, this is not fun. A hungry Cincinnati team comes to town and if they win this weekend facing Denver, they could sneak into the playoffs by beating the Steelers. Pittsburgh is already in and no matter what the outcome in week 18, a win or loss will not matter to the Steelers. I believe Cincinnati will win that game. If that becomes the case, we will have to spend the entire offseason replaying the last four games of the season in our heads.