This would’ve been nobody’s idea of how to go into the playoffs.
On a four-game losing streak. With an offense that scored a combined 6 touchdowns in those games and never was able to crack the 20-point mark. With a defense that gradually has become less dynamic in the play-making department. With seemingly little going for it except the best placekicker in the league.
There should be no argument that this is not the way the Steelers wanted to be entering the playoffs, but it has become their reality. Super Wild Card Weekend will begin with 2 games on Saturday, Jan. 11 (4:30 p.m., 8 p.m.), 3 games on Sunday, Jan. 12 (1 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 8:15 p.m.), and 1 on Monday, Jan. 13 (8:15 p.m.), and the Steelers clinched their spot in this single-elimination tournament on the same weekend their losing streak started.
After losing to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Kansas City during an 11-day span, the Steelers had a mini-bye before the regular season finale against the Bengals at Acrisure Stadium. It looked to be a nice opportunity for a get-right against a team in a do-or-die situation with respect to its own playoff hopes, a team with a top-quality offense and a less-than-intimidating defense. In other words, a winnable game for them, if for no other reason than they had defeated the Bengals, 44-38, on Dec. 1 in Cincinnati.
But this rematch was nothing like that one. After scoring 44 points and posting 520 total net yards and 28 first downs, after showcasing a passing attack that distributed the ball to 10 different receivers as part of an offense that had only one of its first 10 possessions end with a punt before going into victory formation, the Steelers offense was stymied Saturday night through three quarters to the tune of 7 first downs and 91 total net yards. Instead of getting open and making catches for chunks of yardage, the receivers were more a liability than an asset. And nobody was blameless.
George Pickens’ final stat line showed him being targeted 6 times but only able to finish one of those and that 1 catch was good for zero yards. Calvin Austin III had zero catches but had the ball hit his hands beyond the line to gain on a third down before one of Corliss Waitman’s 5 punts. Even Pat Freiermuth, who had 8 catches for 85 yards and a 19-yard touchdown, had an on-target throw go through his hands on a fourth down beyond the line to gain in the final seconds that would have given Chris Boswell a chance at another game-winning field goal.
The defense was better than it had been during this four-game slide, but it wasn’t dynamic enough to be the difference in the outcome.
In Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins, the Bengals present the best “quarterback-starting-wide-receiver” group in the NFL, and the Steelers defense allowed them 1 touchdown in 4 trips into the red zone, including 0-for-2 in goal-to-go situations. There was a good bit of bending along the way, though, and because the defense had only one takeaway – on a Beanie Bishop scoop of a pass first tipped by Patrick Queen – the Bengals’ 38 minutes in time of possession controlled the ball and the clock and the flow of the game.
What was a stark difference came in the play of the respective quarterbacks. Burrow completed 77.1 percent, and when it became clear the Steelers were keeping a lid on Chase and Higgins – neither of whom had a catch for 20-plus yards – he was patient and disciplined and got the ball to 5 different tight ends for 114 yards that kept the ball in the Bengals’ hands for 71 offensive snaps.
Wilson’s numbers pale in comparison. He completed 54.8 percent, the Steelers ran 13 fewer plays, and the offense didn’t go over 100 total net yards until the game was into the fourth quarter. But the drops – or not-completed-catches if you prefer the kinder, gentler spin – were an undeniable factor. And if that ball doesn’t go through Freiermuth’s hands on the fourth-down pass, if Boswell drills the kick, and if the Steelers win, 20-19, Wilson could be seen as a savvy, experienced NFL starter capable of engineering victory in January.
As for the rest of it, the defense has something to build on after allowing just 1 touchdown and 3 red zone field goals while going toe-to-toe with an offense that came in leading the NFL in passing yards per game and was No. 6 in points per game. Special teams contributed when it recovered a muffed punt in the fourth quarter that set up a Boswell field goal. And pending the outcome of Sunday’s Chargers at Raiders game, neither of the possibilities on Wild Card Weekend – at Houston or at Baltimore – presents an unwinnable game.
It’s not going to be spun that way now, though, because the Steelers lost to the Bengals, 19-17, and the act of ending their regular season with an 0-fer does nothing to instill confidence heading into the postseason. Ready or not, they are heading into the postseason anyway, and during the weekend of Jan. 11-13 they will be playing the Texans in Houston or the Ravens in Baltimore during Super Wild Card Weekend.
It’s going to happen, and the way they have to view it is as an opportunity. They have done enough to qualify, and so by definition they belong. Nothing matters except how they prepare and then perform in the stadium. They – coaches and players alike – have been at this since late May, and this chance is what they spent every one of those days working toward. Starting Monday, everybody still playing is 0-0.
“I’m confident. I’m sorry I don’t have the energy behind this, but I’m very confident in the group,” said Cam Heyward. “You know, as a professional you work your butt off to be ready week in and week out. There is belief in the group, and that’s all that matters. Instead of thinking of the multitude of it, I’m taking it game by game. We’re in the dance. Nobody is going to make it easy for us, but I like us vs. anybody.
“You can say I’m blowing smoke, but I do. And I like the group. It’s about ironing out our mistakes and cleaning it up yesterday.”
Because there will be no tomorrow if they don’t.
