BALTIMORE — It feels like more 34 years at this point. But it was only 34 days ago that the Pittsburgh Steelers were riding high.
A victory over the Cleveland Browns on Dec. 8 was the Steelers’ seventh in their past eight games, moved them to 10-3 and extended their lead in the AFC North to two games (plus the tiebreaker) with just four to play in the regular season.
A three-game gauntlet, though, awaited. The Steelers were set to play three of the NFL’s best teams over an 11-day span.
“It’s just going to show us,” DeShon Elliott said then, “how good we can be.”
It showed something, all right.
Less than five weeks later, after a fifth consecutive loss, Elliott spoke in a much different tone.
“I know in the past (the Steelers have) played well in the beginning of the season and then we just (crap) the bed at the end,” Elliott said, “and same (crap) happened this year. Closed the season out on a five-game losing streak including the playoffs.”
This season marked the fifth time over the past seven seasons the Steelers had a losing streak of at least three games that started sometime after Week 12.
“So we got to figure out what’s the problem,” Elliott said Saturday from M&T Bank Stadium after the Ravens beat up the Steelers, 28-14. “We’ve gotta figure out how to get better, gotta figure out how to get past that point and finish strong to seasons and go into the playoffs hot when you’re playing playoff football.”
Nothing about the way the Steelers played over the final month of the regular season suggested they were finishing strong, and nothing about their performance in their lone playoff game resembled the cliched definition of “playoff football.”
The Steelers were outscored 109-57 down the stretch of their season and 133-71 if Saturday’s point totals are added. They went all 300 game minutes of their losing streak without holding a lead.
Once they got to the postseason, their run defense was very un-playoff-like. Baltimore rushed for 299 yards and a 6.0 per-carry average, including 186 on 26 carries from workhorse running back Derrick Henry.
Counting a 162-yard effort the Ravens’ beatdown of the Steelers three weeks ago in this same venue, Henry amassed 348 rushing yards and a 7.0 average against a team and franchise that prides itself on stopping the run.
When the Steelers lost that Dec. 21 game in Baltimore, it blew an opportunity to clinch the AFC North at the home of their biggest rival. The vibe in the visitors’ locker room that day could be described as somber and deflated.
Late Saturday night, by contrast, the mood almost could be described as relief. The Steelers, after all, won’t lose any more games this season.
“When the season ends, the ultimate goal that you wanted to continue to chase … the routine that you created together, starts anew,” linebacker Patrick Queen said.
So what can be done so that this trend doesn’t continue in 2025 and beyond? The Steelers have lost six consecutive playoff games and have not won a postseason contest since the 2016 season.
Does the organization currently have what it takes to break its current ongoing state of — to use a word coach Mike Tomlin recently used to describe their losing streak — stench?
Several players insist yes.
“I believe in it,” tight end Pat Freiermuth said of the Steelers’ organization. “I believe in the process. We all have the utmost trust in ‘Coach T’ as a guy who’s a leader and who’s leading us. The utmost trust in (general manager Omar Khan) and the front office and the vision. We’ve just got to get it right.”
But after so many playoff no-shows and end-of-season foundering, why do many Steelers say they’re keeping the faith in the franchise?
“Because it’s built right,” said veteran inside linebacker Elandon Roberts, who won a Super Bowl while with the New England Patriots. “We have a good leader in Mike T. We have a great front office. We have great owner in Mr. Rooney. So the foundation is very solid.”
