The Pittsburgh Steelers are heading into Week 18 riding a three-game losing streak. The team already locked up a playoff spot back in Week 15, but it gave up the AFC North to the Baltimore Ravens after losing three games in just 11 days. The Steelers still have a chance to win the division in Week 18 as long as the Cleveland Browns beat the Ravens and Pittsburgh can take down the Cincinnati Bengals. Regardless, the Steelers must win in the regular season finale just to gain some confidence before heading into the postseason.
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Steelers' Mike Tomlin on the sidelines during a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2024.
Pittsburgh's most recent loss came to the Kansas City Chiefs, and the three-game losing streak also features losses to the Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles. Losing to any of these three teams isn't necessarily bad considering they are three of the best teams in the NFL, but losing to all three of them in a row by at least two scores is demoralizing. The Ravens and Chiefs also had to play three games in a short period of time, and Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh spoke to the media in Baltimore about getting his team through this tough stretch.
"Proud of our guys," Harbaugh said. "These guys took these three games in 11 days and smashed it, obliterated it, tore it up and made into a bunch of smithereens laying around everywhere. The fact that they did it in this short stretch, I think our team probably handled it the best, arguably. I guess the Chiefs did a good job too, so there you go. Have to give them credit where credit's due."
The Houston Texans also played three games in a short period of time, and they went 1-2 after losing to Baltimore on Christmas Day. Pittsburgh was the only team out of the four teams with this difficult schedule to escape this stretch of games without a win. Harbaugh made sure to get a quick compliment in for the Chiefs, while seemingly acknowledging the Steelers' rough stretch without saying anything at all.
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Steelers' Mike Tomlin ahead of a 2024 home game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Late-season collapses have become the norm for the Steelers. In 2023, they lost three games in a row to horrendous teams, so this year’s edition of the falloff is a bit better since it came against the best teams in the league. The Steelers must find a way to put this tough stretch behind them as they head into the playoffs. As of Friday, it seems more than likely that the Steelers will be a Wild Card team that may travel to Houston to play the Texans. That could change if the Steelers find a way to win the AFC North in Week 18.
The weirdest part about this late-season collapse is that the defense has been at fault for a lot of the team's issues. The unit has given up 27 or more points in each of the last three games, and it becomes hard to win these highly-contested matchups if you can't stop the opposing offenses. The defense must get their groove back in Week 18 and re-gain some confidence ahead of the playoffs.
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Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin (right) and Baltimore Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh (left) talk during warmups before the game at Heinz Field on September 30, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Steelers' Mike Tomlin Has Proven He Is Not An Elite Head Coach
Tomlin, Harbaugh, and Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid are all considered some of the best head coaches in the league. Tomlin has not been able to beat Reid during the Patrick Mahomes-era, and his teams have not been able to go on playoff runs like Baltimore or Kansas City. Moving forward, the Steelers have to stop fooling themselves into thinking they can be competitive against these teams with top-end talent. The Steelers are consistently blown out by the best teams in the league, not named the Ravens of course.
Tomlin and the rest of the organization need a reality check, because after another disappointing late-season losing streak, it might be time for some changes. What do you think?
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