Week 3 in the NFL is often times an equalizer. Football is a game of angles and inches and its not uncommon for middling teams to get caught just a little too short or do just enough to win or loss in week’s 1 and 2.
- But in week 3, the law of averages tends to even out.
And that’s accurately describes the 2017 Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers won, albeit in unimpressive fashion in weeks 1 and 2 over the Browns and Vikings. In the Steelers overtime loss to the Bears, Pittsburgh came up short in a number of cases, had several opportunities thrown their way, but ultimately revealed their identity for what it is thus far: A team with a superstar roster with woefully under performing its pedigree.
Troubling Tomlin Trend Confirms Itself
Mike Tomlin has been at the helm of the Pittsburgh Steelers for over 10 seasons. While that’s ten too many for some factions of Steelers Nation, this site has not (and still is not) inclined to join that chorus. Regardless, such a long tenure provides ample opportunity for finding meaningful tendencies.
And the tendencies relevant to the Steelers loss to the Chicago Bears are troubleing:
- The Steelers are 5-13 in last 18 games on the road against teams with losing records
- Since Super Bowl XLV the Steelers are 5-9 in early-season road games
- Beny Rothlisberger doesn’t seem to be the same quarterback on the road
Leading up to the Chicago game, the Steelers said all the right things, as they always do. Mike Tomlin reminded the team that it was Mike Glennon who embarrassed the Steelers in their 2014 loss to Tampa. Cameron Heyward, Ryan Shazier and players further down the depth chart to a man, assured us that the Steelers weren’t taking the Bears lightly.
And let’s give the guys credit, there’s nothing to indicate that the Steelers looked past the Bears.
- Which makes the Steelers 23-17 overtime loss in Chicago all the more troubling.
It is easy to find scapegoats. And the truth is that absent the Pittsburgh’s special teams snafus, from Eli Rogers muffed punt, to Chris Boswell’s blocked field goals, the Steelers probably would have stumbled to victory against the Bears.
Perhaps it’s a tautology, but great teams find ways to overcome mistakes with superior plays. Good teams overcome mistakes by taking advantage of opportunities presented to them. In their 23-17 overtime loss to the Chicago Bears, the Steelers failed to marshal superior plays, and saw a Bears team all but beg to give the team away in the second half.
That the Steelers were insufficient to the task is incontrovertible. Understanding why remains a mystery.
Steelers Offense Continues to Underperform
The word on the Steelers coming into the Bears game was that the defense had carried the team during the first two weeks. While that’s true, its also true that the when the Browns took away the deep ball, Ben Roethlisberger responded by burning them to Antonio Brown underneath. When the Vikings crowded up the middle of the field, Roethlisberger hit Martavis Bryant deep (or otherwise got his receivers to draw pass interference penalties.)
- Through it all, the Steelers struggled to establish Le’Veon Bell on the ground.
Against the Bears, the Steelers offense sputtered, as best exemplified by their 4-11 third down conversion record. And while pass protection was generally sound, a strip sack by the Bears ended one promising scoring drive, and fighting to get into field goal range, the Steelers offensive line was unable to protect their quarterback against a three man rush.
- Perhaps its Tomlin should have played his starters more in preseason, to establish greater cohesion.
- Perhaps Le’Veon Bell’s holdout dulled his edge more than expected.
- Perhaps Todd Haley is mailing it in.
- Perhaps Father Time has Big Ben’s clock clicking towards “Life’s Work” faster than expected.
At this point, all explanations deserve full consideration.
The bottom line is that the Pittsburgh Steelers have far too much talent on offense to struggle as they have during these first 3 games of the season.
Steelers Defense Overrated?
Heading into the season, the word on the Steelers defense was that they had as good of a front seven of any other team in the league, but that the secondary remained suspect. But the Steelers defense looked good in weeks one and weeks two, getting contributions not only from the usual suspects, but from new faces such as Bud Dupree, Anthony Chickillo, Joe Haden, J.J. Wilcox, Javon Hargrave and Vince Williams.
They’d preformed so well that MMQB’s Andy Beniot suggested that the Steelers might have the best defense in the league….
- Then Tarik Cohen and Jordan Howard combined for 220 yards and averaged over 6.0 yards per carry.
Note, Chicago Bears quarterback Mike Glennon completed all of one pass for 9 yards to a wide receiver. Clearly he didn’t need to do more. IT would be incorrect to say that the Chicago Bears imposed their will on the Steelers, because there were times when the Steelers defense stuffed Chicago runners as we’re accustomed to seeing them run.
- But if the Chicago Bears couldn’t run the ball on the Steelers defense when they wanted to, they certainly ran it when they needed to.
And as a result, the Bears overcame two second half turnovers, numerous penalties, fumbles and bad snaps to last long enough to thoroughly embarrass the Steelers defense in overtime.
Keith Butler had better have a long look at this tape, because opposing offensive coordinators certainly will.
3 Games into 2017 Steelers Regressing to the Mean
The Pittsburgh Steelers began 2016 with a mix of strong and inconsistent performances, only to struggle mightily in the middle portion of their schedule. They made a stark turn round during the second half of 2016 which continued all the way to their AFC Championship loss to the Patriots.
- 3 games into the 2017 season, there’s only one thing you can say about this team.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are team well-stocked with above average talent that somehow is finding itself regressing to the mean.
