We knew that this stretch of games towards the end of the season was going to be brutal. In particular, a three game run in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and then at home to face Kansas City was a cruel and unusual punishment for any NFL team to endure.

The Steelers are 0-2 in that stretch so far, and as if a Christmas Day game against the Chiefs wasn’t already going to be the talk of the town, now that game is a must win for the Steelers if they want any chance at winning the AFC North and hosting a playoff game this year.

I know there’s going to be a lot of takes after this game. Some of them will be even worse than the loss itself (which means they have to be pretty damn bad). I’m going to try and keep mine relatively reasoned.

With that being said, however, I do definitely have some thoughts on this game, so here we go:

1: Don’t Overreact

If you know me well enough, you know I am the king of overreacting. So believe me when I say I get it if people are having a pretty visceral reaction to losing 34-17 to your bitter divisional rival, a game that allowed them to officially clinch a playoff spot.

However, I don’t want this game to be the reason why I give up on this team this year. With DeShon Elliott, Larry Ogunjobi, Donte Jackson, and George Pickens all ruled out ahead of time, this was the result I more or less expected for the Steelers today.

They’re a good team, but they are not a great team. A great team would be able to overcome these injuries, or at the very least, make games like this one and the loss in Philly closer than they were.

I know there will be a lot of chatter on Russell Wilson. I’m not wavering in my belief on him. I was admittedly very skeptical of the move to bench Justin Fields at first, but Wilson has been great this year.

The fumble was bad. The pick was far worse. But he is not the sole reason for this loss, and I can’t fault him a ton for losing games where his best receiver on offense is missing.

2: The Steelers Don’t Learn

Ok, now that the reacting thing is out of the way, let’s get to one of my “takes” on this game. Last week, as we all remember, the Steelers faced a 4th and 7 on the Eagles’ 46-yard with over ten minutes still on the clock in a two-score game.

Mike Tomlin made the controversial decision to punt the ball away, hoping his defense could get the ball back quickly and give the Steelers another shot. Tomlin never got the ball back after that decision, as the Eagles ran a drive that lasted 10:29 and killed the game.

I missed this stat in my review for that game, but I’ll include it here: Per the Surrender Index, that punt had a Surrender Index of 16.53, ranking it in 98th percentile of cowardly punts of the 2024 season, and the 95th percentile of all punts since 1999.

Cut to Saturday, with the Steelers facing a similar situation. On a 4th and 12 play at the 50-yard line, in a two-score game, Tomlin once again decides to punt. After going for it on 4th and 6 at the Ravens’ 45-yard line (and failing), Tomlin opted against it the second time around, punting the ball back to the Ravens, who killed 6:09 and kicked a field goal, ending the game.

Objectively, a 4th and 12 play is one of the most unfavorable positions you could be in during a football game, but I’ll be honest, I’d rather go down swinging, giving my offense one last chance with the game on the line. Punting it away was waving the white flag altogether, and cutting your offense off entirely.

3: The Play Before

But while we’re on the subject of that play, let’s talk about exactly how we got there. On a must-score drive, the Steelers start out pretty well. Jaylen Warren picks up an 11-yard gain on the first play, and after some dink and dunk passes the Steelers have another first down, now on Baltimore’s 48-yard line.

Then Russell Wilson gets sacked…4-yard loss.

Then Broderick Jones gets called for a false start…another 4-yard loss [sic].

Now it’s 2nd and 18, and Wilson finds Pat Freiermuth for a modest 7-yard gain, setting up a critical third down play with a little under 11 minutes remaining in the game. Tom Brady was weird in the broadcast booth today, but he was right in saying that the Steelers didn’t need to get all 11 yards in one play, just get a chunk of them.

Instead, the Steelers run an awkward pass immediately to Calvin Austin, who gets taken down for no gain. At that moment, it was clear the Steelers had no real intentions of ever going for it on 4th down. Running an unserious play like that was a give up move, which was only showed up by punting from that same spot on the next play.

4: They Still Need Pickens…But

The numbers don’t lie: the Steelers need George Pickens if they want to win football games. Daniel Valente was generous enough to break down the numbers.

Steelers with Wilson & Pickens (Weeks 7-13):

• 26.3 points per game
• 389.7 yards per game
• 255 passing yards per game

Steelers without Pickens (Weeks 14-16):

• 19 points per game
• 248.3 yards per game
• 150.7 passing yards per game

However, I did find glimpses of encouragement in the Pickens-less offense today. Austin had 4 catches for 65 yards (both team-leaders). MyCole Pruitt and Cordarrelle Pattersson both had receiving touchdowns today. Ben Skowronek made a few important catches.

There were solid performances by players who are farther down the depth chart. Unfortunately, those performances are often wasted if a team is missing their top end talent as well.

George, please come back…

5: Steeler Defense Needs To Be Better

There is a lot of blame to go around in this loss. Wilson will suffer the brunt of it, but the defense should as well.

Wilson made crucial mistakes. That fumble near the goal line where he could have easily slid was a 14-point swing, but when a Ravens drive starts on their own 4-yard line, the Steelers’ defense, even if banged up, should be able to stop it.

Derrick Henry ran all over them today. He had 162 rushing yards. Zay Flowers gashed them all over the field. He caught five passes for 100 yards.

The Ravens made offense look easy in this game, and on a day (and in a rivalry) where the defense was going to be key in a Steelers win, they let the team down just as much as Wilson’s mistakes did.

(Featured photo by Eric Hartline/Imagn Images)