Airing of Grievances: Poor pass protection, rotten start, shoddy defense doom Steelers on Christmas Day

The Steelers’ Christmas Day game against the Kansas City Chiefs went as well as the holiday dinner in the movie “Christmas Vacation.”

The offense was about as dry as the Griswold’s turkey. The defense got fried like the family cat, and Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes caused as much chaos as the squirrel that escaped from the Christmas tree.

The Steelers ended up losing 29-10. It’s their third loss in a row. All of them have come against a current playoff team. None of them have been particularly competitive.

It’s leading many to wonder if the Steelers even have a shot against any club in the AFC playoff bracket.

“Junior varsity is not good enough. We’ve got to own that,” head coach Mike Tomlin said. “We’ve also got to look at what it is we need to do different. We’re not going to do the same things and hope for a different result. That doesn’t seem sharp to me.”

So let’s skip Christmas dinner, pound an extra glass or two of eggnog from our Marty Moose glasses, and grouse over what went wrong in our often imitated, marginally replicated weekly “Airing of Grievances” after this latest Steelers loss.

AIRING OF GRIEVANCES

Sleeping in on Christmas: The Steelers got off to an atrocious start. The offense went three-and-out on the first series. On third-and-2, coordinator Arthur Smith split running back Najee Harris out wide to the left. The pocket collapsed on quarterback Russell Wilson, he tried to spin out of trouble, put the ball down on the turf to try to balance himself and fumbled. Wilson pounced on it. But the play lost 11 yards.

The Steelers punted. Nikko Remigio returned the kick 25 yards. Kansas City proceeded to march 42 yards on eight plays for a touchdown. That included picking up a first down on a fourth-and-1.

Xavier Worthy scored amidst what appeared to be more red-zone defensive confusion, the likes of which we saw twice last week.

Xavier Worthy gets the Christmas scoring started ‼️#KCvsPIT on @Netflix pic.twitter.com/MzEGMz0p4K

— NFL (@NFL) December 25, 2024

The Steelers picked up one first down on the next sequence before punting again. The Chiefs turned that possession into a touchdown as well.

Just like that, Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night.

Home for the holiday: The Steelers got roasted by Bridgeville native Justin Watson.

On the second drive, Watson caught a 49-yard pass from Patrick Mahomes. Three snaps later, he caught an 11-yard touchdown.

CHRISTMAS DAY HOMECOMING FOR J WAT ???? pic.twitter.com/xbL8MfaxGt

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) December 25, 2024

Watson’s previous best game of the season was three catches for 43 yards against Tampa Bay on Nov. 4. The South Fayette product entered the game seventh on the Chiefs in terms of yards and eighth in receptions.

Russ’ Regression: Over his first six games as a starter, Russell Wilson had a passer rating of 103.9. He put up 12 touchdowns and just three interceptions.

The last three outings have been significantly worse.

Last week, Wilson fumbled at the Baltimore 4-yard line and threw a pick-six to go along with a mundane 217 passing yards. The previous week in Philadelphia, he only managed 128 yards on 14 of 22 passing.

Against the Chiefs, Wilson was 23 of 37 for only 205 yards, no touchdowns and an interception in the end zone.

"A GIFT FOR YOU!"

Justin Reid with the Christmas pick! ????#KCvsPIT on @Netflix pic.twitter.com/vA9YoCh8dY

— NFL (@NFL) December 25, 2024

“It can’t happen,” Wilson said. “I was trying to give Pat (Freiermuth) a chance. He has done such a good job for us in the red zone. They made a good play.”

Wilson didn’t get much help from his offensive line. He was sacked five times and could have been sacked many more. In fact, 55 yards of the Steelers offensive, uh, “attack,” was Wilson scrambling for his life.

Imagine what that would’ve looked like if Kansas City All-Pro defensive lineman Chris Jones had played.

Speaking of Freiermuth, he also gave the ball away once with a fourth-quarter fumble.

First-half follies: The Steelers had a head-scratching end to the first half.

On a third-and-3 from their own 42 with just under three minutes to go, for some reason, the Steelers just slammed the ball behind the left guard with Cordarrelle Patterson on his first carry of the day.

It only got 2 yards, and the Steelers had to punt. Keep in mind that, on the team’s first third down of the game, the Steelers split Harris wide and looked downfield. Wilson lost the ball before absorbing a sack.

That seems inconsistent to me.

The Steelers got lucky, though. After Patterson got stuffed, the Chiefs had 12 men on the field during the punt, so Wilson and company got the ball back right before the two-minute warning.

Predictably, they went three-and-out, missing on a bomb down the sideline to Mike Williams after a first down run by Najee Harris lost a yard, and a short pass to George Pickens picked up a measly 2 yards.

No rhyme. No reason. No logic. No points.

Here is another first-half stat you’ll love. Jaylen Warren had eight carries. The other two backs combined for eight carries. They had 23 yards. Warren had 61.

Especially with Jones out for Kansas City, Warren should have been featured early and often throughout this game.

Felt familiar: Like many Christmas carols this time of year, watching the Steelers defense is like the same old song playing on repeat over and over again.

The team’s inability to get off the field on third down has become extremely tiresome. In Philadelphia, the Eagles held the ball for almost 40 minutes. In Baltimore, the defense didn’t force a single three-and-out.

Against the Chiefs, the defense didn’t force a turnover and didn’t generate a sack. Mahomes was 29 of 38 for 320 yards and three touchdowns. He had a passer rating of 127.1. Eight different receivers caught passes. They averaged 11.3 yards per reception.

“He is a hell of a player,” linebacker T.J. Watt said of Mahomes. “He has great weapons. They have a good scheme. You can’t afford to spot them points and allow him to scramble around in the pocket and have time.”

In the second half, Kansas City easily marched to an eight-play field goal drive, an 11-play touchdown drive and a four-play touchdown drive after a fumble recovery that ended with an easy touchdown pass to tight end Travis Kelce.

MAHOMES. KELCE.

These guys are giving @Chiefs fans the best Christmas ❤️#KCvsPIT on @Netflix pic.twitter.com/3OyIjujhgj

— NFL (@NFL) December 25, 2024

Before going up 29-10, the Chiefs had run 50 plays. Only nine were on third or fourth down snaps. They converted four of them.