Airing of Grievances: Another hideous start, rotten run defense result in 6th straight playoff loss for Steelers

A Steelers season that had a lot of promise at 10-3 is now over thanks to an all-too-familiar collapse. It was another slide that started in December and ended with a thud in early January.

It’s been that way in Pittsburgh pretty much since the end of the 2017 regular season, and Steelers fans should expect nothing to change.

Sure, the franchise will fire a few assistant coaches to make it look like they are doing something to shake it up. But head coach Mike Tomlin will be back. They’ll probably sign quarterback Russell Wilson on the free agency market. They’ll keep — and maybe even extend — most of their aging defensive starters. And I wouldn’t even be surprised if George Pickens gets a contract extension the minute he starts grousing about his current deal, which I expect to start happening… hmm … probably by the time you finish reading this column.

In the meantime, this is the conclusion of yet another year without a playoff win for the Steelers, courtesy of a 28-14 beatdown by the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday night. As a result, let’s vent one last time in our final “Airing of Grievances” for 2024-25.

S.O.S. (same old … start)

As they have done for much of the season — particularly over their last five losses to end the year — the Steelers got off to a pathetic start to this game.

Pittsburgh won the toss and elected to receive. That’s probably because Mike Tomlin wanted to put his (*clears throat*) juggernaut of an offense on the field first.

Well, it got one first down, netted 19 yards, then punted.

The Ravens got the ball at their own 5-yard line after a dropped punt and a missed facemask against the Steelers on the return.

The Baltimore offense proceeded to shove the ball down the throat of the Pittsburgh defense to the tune of 13 plays over 7 minutes and 13 seconds for a 95-yard touchdown drive.

The lowlight of the first defensive sequence was Baltimore running back Derrick Henry galloping for 34 yards past Donte Jackson while emasculating Minkah Fitzpatrick with a stiff arm.

The royal stiff arm ???? pic.twitter.com/OTakYdvxXV

— NFL (@NFL) January 12, 2025

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson capped it off by hitting Rashod Bateman for a touchdown when he beat Donte Jackson.

Lamar to Bateman! @Ravens on the board first.#PITvsBAL on Prime Video
Also streaming on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/hbgHaksoPA

— NFL (@NFL) January 12, 2025

The Steelers then went three-and-out on the next possession. It featured a flea-flicker attempt that resulted in a sack and a typical short-of-the-sticks completion on a third-and-7 to Pat Freiermuth. It only got 5 yards. Then Corliss Waitman punted.

The 7-0 deficit after the first 15 minutes means the Steelers have been outscored 73-0 in the first quarters of their last six playoff games. Over their final five games of this season, the Steelers were outscored 47-3 in the first quarter of those contests.

Tomlin’s team is constantly underprepared and thoroughly outmatched at the start of every game.

Defensive duds

The Ravens had another 13-play touchdown drive in the second quarter. They traversed 85 yards over 7:56 of possession time. Henry capped it off with a touchdown run from 8 yards out.

Rumblin' in for SIX ????#PITvsBAL on Prime Video
Also streaming on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/Ea59Aj1Q7T

— NFL (@NFL) January 12, 2025

Later in the second quarter, Jackson and company engineered yet another long touchdown drive — 90 yards on nine plays in less than two minutes. Jackson’s scramble before his touchdown pass to Justice Hill to end it was something special.

MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tune in on Prime! pic.twitter.com/iYlYVAfgku

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) January 12, 2025

Whenever the Steelers’ outside linebackers went at Jackson on the read options, he just gave the ball to Henry. Whenever they attacked Henry, Jackson just kept it himself.

Tomlin’s defense gave up seven of the first eight third downs it faced. The Ravens stayed on the field for over 20 minutes of the first 30 before halftime. By the end of the night, Baltimore racked up 464 total yards of offense, with an eye-popping 299 coming on the ground.

The first Ravens’ three-and-out didn’t occur until in the third quarter. After the Steelers pulled within 21-7 in the third quarter, the defense promptly allowed a 44-yard scoring jaunt by Henry.

KING TIME! 44-YARD TD ????#PITvsBAL on Prime Video
Also streaming on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/qECgiVFEzj

— NFL (@NFL) January 12, 2025

The Ravens got to halftime with 20 first downs. The Steelers had two. They totaled 164 yards rushing over the first two quarters (Henry had 100, Jackson had 64). Those two ended up combining for 267 on the ground. At one point in the third quarter, the network broadcast had Henry forcing nine missed tackles and accumulating 134 yards after contact.

Jackson’s final stat line was 16 of 21 for 175 yards and two touchdowns. That equates to a 132.0 passer rating. He added 81 rushing yards and was only sacked once.

The Ravens ran 72 offensive snaps, yet the Steelers’ defense accounted for only five negative plays.

Awful offense

The Steelers’ offense generated a piddly 29 rushing yards. It held onto the ball for just 20:27. Aside from two second-half touchdown drives, the Steelers had five punts and lost one possession on downs.

Statistically, it actually looks like Russell Wilson had a good game. He was 20 of 29 for 270 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. That’s a passer rating of 121.3.

However, on third and fourth downs, the team was 5 for 12. Four times, Wilson completed passes short of the line to gain. Somehow, one of those completions came up short on a third-and-2. He was also sacked four times and ran three other times for just 6 yards.

After a lot of smoke about using Justin Fields more this week, he didn’t account for a carry and threw one incomplete pass.

Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith talked about “burning the boats” in advance of this game.

I hope everybody knows how to swim to get home.

Individual ineptitude

Those were the collective woes of the team. Individually, there was a lot of blame to go around as well.

Najee Harris had only 17 yards rushing. Jaylen Warren had just 6. Much like last week against the Bengals, Freiermuth had a drop and came up short on a third-down reception twice.

The whole offensive line looked overwhelmed. On one particular sack by Odafe Oweh, Broderick Jones got scalded off the snap.

Pickens wound up with 87 yards on four catches plus a TD. Unfortunately, the other wide receivers — Van Jefferson, Calvin Austin and Mike Williams — combined for just four catches.

T.J. Watt didn’t have a tackle. Alex Highsmith had a sack but just one other tackle. That sack was the only QB hit on Jackson the whole night. Larry Ogunjobi had just one solo tackle. The entire season, he managed only one game — Week 4 in Indianapolis — with more than two solo tackles in the final box score.

Reality bites

This loss means the Steelers have now dropped six playoff games in a row. The collective final score of those games is 230-146.

The franchise hasn’t won a playoff game in eight seasons. Tomlin has been the head coach for 18 years. Fourteen of those seasons have ended without a playoff victory.

The trip to Dallas for Super Bowl XLV was 14 years ago. A lot of time has passed since then. Antonio Brown was a rookie. Cam Heyward had yet to be drafted. T.J. Watt was in high school.

However, once the dust settles from the humiliation of this latest postseason defeat, all of those failures will be swept under the rug by the national media, and they’ll just yap about the fact that Tomlin has never had a losing season.

That accomplishment is treated like biblical scripture by the national talking heads. Meanwhile, it’s become a punchline in Pittsburgh, as has the team motto that Tomlin authored: “The standard is the standard.”

Well, the Steelers’ standard is now being moderately above average in the regular season, and a joke in the playoffs.

See ya next year.