When the NFL announced the 2024 schedules for every team, Pittsburgh Steelers fans should have always feared this period. It’s not about the Steelers’ opponent, it’s the lack of rest they received. They completed three games in 11 days. It might be easy to use that as an excuse for the 29-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, but Alex Highsmith doesn’t believe it had any impact on the outcome.
“They had to deal with that, too,” Highsmith said after the Steelers lost their third straight game on KDKA’s Extra Point postgame show. “They had a short week just like us. They had to come by road. There is no excuse for what happened today. We just have to keep our heads down and work.”
Highsmith is right. The Chiefs played in the same situation as the Steelers. Their previous opponents may not have been very good, but this is the NFL. Every game will hurt its players. The Steelers have their own problems beyond their schedule and are out of their control.
For example, it sounds like their team isn’t on the same page. Several players have recently expressed dissatisfaction with the way the team has been playing. The Steelers hold themselves to high standards, and they haven’t met them lately. The same goes for both offense and defense.
Although they weren’t necessarily the worse unit, the Steelers’ defense was truly disappointing. Most of this season has seen them play like arguably the best defense in the NFL. But miscommunication, missed tackles and overall sloppiness killed them. Most of the time they seemed lost.
The Steelers’ offense wasn’t much better. Although we got George Pickens back this week. The deal is still stalled. It’s one of their driving forces. It feels like every time they do something right, they follow it up with three painful moves. Nothing clicks.
That said, the schedule is one of the last things the Steelers should blame for this string of losses. You could argue that they had a chance to win all of those games. They seemed unable to utilize capital in a timely manner.
With one game left in the regular season, the Steelers can still prove they’re not as bad as they once were. They’ll get some good rest before facing the Cincinnati Bengals, and with any luck, they’ll be able to iron out some of the wrinkles. Otherwise, sledding forward may be difficult.
