Everything is a problem for the Steelers
They are now the team the rest of the league has fun against.
Everything you need to know about the Pittsburgh Steelers right now can be summed up by these three moments from their 35-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
A.J. Brown celebrated his third touchdown *of the first half* by opening taunting Ahkello Witherspoon and Minkah Fitzpatrick by pointing at them in the end zone, not even giving a damn that it was going to be a 15-yard penalty.
Eagles offensive lineman Jason Kelce strutting around on the sidelines in the fourth quarter with a batman mask on.
The Eagles putting in their backups, including backup quarterback Gardner Minshew, with still more than 10 minutes to play in the fourth quarter in a game that was still somewhat within reach. Were the Steelers going to come back? No. They were not. Not the way they were playing on Sunday, and that is kind of the point here. The Eagles knew that an 18-point game with more than 10 minutes to play was so safe that they could start pulling starters. It usually takes a lot more points and a lot less time for teams to start sitting starters. But they knew this game was OVER.
With that, the Steelers are now the team that other teams laugh it up and have fun against.
And I do not blame the Eagles for any of that, by the way. If you are going to kick a team’s ass so soundly, you deserve to have your fun and laugh it up. Frankly, they should have kept trying to get A.J. Brown a fourth touchdown and keep padding their stats. If you can do it, do it. This is the big leagues. There are no feelings here. Also, that is kinda what the Steelers deserved on Sunday.
It has been years, and years, and years, probably even decades, since the Steelers have been a truly bad football team. I am not talking “7-9 or 9-7 and barely miss the playoffs” bad. I mean BAD. Like, top-five pick bad.
We might be there.
So now the Steelers are going into their bye week at 2-6, at the bottom of the AFC North, have been dominated by the two best teams they played, lost a couple of games that were easily winnable, and have failed to score 20 points in 22 of their past 26 games dating back to last year.
The good news: T.J. Watt is returning after that bye week which might help them steal a couple of games.
The bad news: Everything else.
A few more thoughts on Sunday’s game and the Steelers as a whole.
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