CHICAGO (93.7 The Fan) – At one point there were conversations of having a stranglehold on the AFC North. It’s not yet Thanksgiving and the Steelers are no longer alone in first place. In fact, the Baltimore Ravens currently own the tie-breaker being 2-0 in the AFC North.
Steelers have lost four of its last six, a pair of them by double figures, another to a team with a losing record and Sunday in Chicago 31-28. The players seem as perplexed by all of this as the fans.
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“I wish I had an answer for you,” said Steelers outside linebacker Nick Herbig. “We got all the talent. We got good coaches. We got good players. We just got to win games, man. That’s all it is. That’s what the NFL is about, is winning. Regardless of what goes on throughout the week, regardless of who is playing and who is not playing. On that day, we have to win.”
“It sucks,” said Steelers center Zach Frazier. “It sucks. We needed this one. We didn’t get it. We got to go to work this week and get the next one.”
“It sucks,” said linebacker Patrick Queen. “It definitely sucks. There are going to be a lot of implications.”
Immediate of those implications is being 6-5 with the same record as the Ravens. The Steelers host the Bills, who are 7-4 and have six straight seasons with at least 10 wins, on Sunday. Then it’s the Ravens, who sat at 1-5 five weeks ago and will host the Steelers in two weeks.
“We got to take care of our business, can’t look around,” said Steelers captain Cam Heyward. “The hourglass is going and the sand is flowing through. There is not a lot of time for mistakes in these very critical games against good teams.”
“We got some good teams coming up,” Queen said. “It’s going to prove to the world who we are or we are going to fold. That’s the mindset. I know me, I like to complete and compete at the highest level. It’s how you make a run late in the year. You have to come to work, be ready and get after it.”
Frazier said it’s not just one person or one side of the ball, he echoed Mike Tomlin postgame in that everyone shares blame. Tomlin even singled out the punt and kickoff return teams for its mistakes in Chicago. TJ Watt bemoaned the same issues hurting them again. Herbig pointed to himself and Frazier continued that all need to be on their details.
“We have a lot of things that need to be fixed, and fixed quickly,” Watt said. “We need to be playing our best football at this stretch of the season. We need to get better and get better quick.”
“It’s tough,” Queen said. “It’s upsetting, obviously, but I know the guys in this room, every single person in this room cares. We are all going to be back to work and try to get better and get this thing rolling.”
“There has never been panic here,” said quarterback Mason Rudolph. “I’ve been a Pittsburgh Steeler long enough to know we’ve been behind, down in the division and up. It’s a natural ebb and flow of the season.”
“I think we got a lot of great leaders in the locker room on both sides. I know we got the right stuff to steady the ship and bounce back next week.”
“I’m very confident in our guys to keep fighting and end up on top.”
There is another constant with the Pittsburgh Steelers besides finding a way into the playoffs most years, and that’s getting blown out in those games. They haven’t yet proven they’ve taken a step forward and they have six games to show something different, four of those against teams with winning records.
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