Steelers notes: Return of George Pickens doesn’t boost sputtering offense

The return of George Pickens did little to kick-start the sputtering Pittsburgh Steelers offense.

Pickens, the No. 1 wide receiver, played for the first time Wednesday since Dec. 1 because of a hamstring injury suffered in practice later that week. But instead of buoying an offense that had two of its four and three of its seven worst point totals to that point of the season during the games he missed, the Steelers’ 10 points against the Kansas City Chiefs on Wednesday marked their lowest output of 2024.

“There’s going to be adversity in every season, and it comes in different spaces and places at different times,” quarterback Russell Wilson said after the disheartening 29-10 Christmas Day loss at home. “I’m betting on our guys and who we are and how we’re going to respond.”

Only 80 yards on a final drive in “garbage time” pushed the Steelers over 300 yards of offense in the game. The unit averaged 248.3 in the three games without Pickens after it sat at 389.7 over the six games with Pickens after Wilson took over as starting quarterback.

And while the Steelers were averaging 28.7 points per game with Pickens and Wilson, that dropped to 19.0 when Pickens was injured.

That production bottomed out, though, when Pickens returned on Christmas.

“Our performance wasn’t anything like the work that we put in for this game,” receiver Calvin Austin III said, “and the frustrating part about it is if we just went out there and put in a good game and got beat, of course that would be frustrating, but it’s more frustrating when you … give it to them and you don’t put up a winning effort.”

Austin (four) had more catches against the Chiefs than Pickens (three). The two accounted for all of the production from the Steelers wide receivers corps. Tight end Pat Freiermuth led the team in receptions (a season-high seven) and yards (60).

Pickens, who was not available to media in the locker room after the game, had by far the Steelers’ biggest play of the game: a 41-yard catch in the first quarter. But he had only one reception in the second half.

Santa Reid

Chiefs coach Andy Reid addressed his team in the postgame locker room in an appropriate manner for the winning side on Christmas Day.

In a full Santa suit and beard.

“He fits the role perfectly,” Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes said.

Mahomes said this was not the first time Reid pulled the stunt. Last year on Christmas Day, for example, Reid’s team was upset in a loss at home to the Las Vegas Raiders.

Lest anyone believe Reid was either being overly presumptuous or overly confident in a win, he maintained he did not pack the suit himself for the trip to Pittsburgh.

“One of my elves did,” Reid deadpanned.

“I can’t tell you the secrets, but there was an elf involved for all you non-believers out there, doggonit.”

Virtual bye

When the Steelers embarked on their bye after their Week 8 game Oct. 28, they had 12 days off between games.

What begins Thursday is a layoff of 10 days.

While many players planned on spending Christmas Day evening with their families, coach Mike Tomlin made Thursday a mandatory day at the facility. By the collective bargaining agreement, though, Steelers players must be given time off over the weekend before what should be a full and more conventional work week in advance of the regular-season finale at home against the Cincinnati Bengals.

“We just need to get back to work,” defensive co-captain T.J. Watt said.

The 10-day layoff follows the brutal stretch of three games — two on the road — in 11 days.

“I’m gearing up for the playoffs,” defensive co-captain Cameron Heyward said of how he would approach the long upcoming weekend. “That’s where I’m at right now, and I think everybody should be, too.”

Clean injury game

The only injury referenced by Tomlin in his postgame remarks was an ankle affliction for Heyward. But Heyward returned to the game,

“Don’t have a lot of information about a lot of other potential injuries,” Tomlin said.