The Pittsburgh Steelers ended the 2024 season with a four-game losing streak after their Week 18 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Their offense has been struggling, failing to score 20 points in any of those losses. Russell Wilson has been a big factor in the team’s struggles.
He has not been the same quarterback who led the “Legion of Boom” in Seattle, and he’s also not the same player he was during his first year in Denver. While he didn’t have his top receiver in two of the four games, it doesn’t excuse his passing issues. Despite fans’ concerns heading into the playoffs, Wilson isn’t dwelling on past performance.
After the Week 18 loss, Wilson spoke to the press and was asked why the offense has struggled to start games strong. Wilson’s main focus is now on the playoffs, not what happened earlier in the season. Fans may not like his response, but he’s ready to focus on the Wild Card Round against either the Baltimore Ravens or Houston Texans.
“I think what I am going to say is, I don’t really want to talk about the past, just because I think we’ve been in that for a little bit here,” Wilson said. “I think the best thing we can do is get ready for the playoffs. It’s a new season; that’s the only thing that really matters anymore at this point.
The reality is obviously, yes, winning that game would have helped us in some form or fashion, but at the end of the day, when you go into the playoffs everybody is zero and zero, you got beat everybody anyway. That’s got to be our focus right now, it’s been a tough few weeks obviously.”
The Steelers’ offense struggled in the Week 18 game, managing just one successful drive, with seven of its eight first downs coming during a lone touchdown drive in the first half. Wilson continued to have trouble connecting with his receivers, holding onto the ball too long and failing to help the offense find any rhythm.
It seemed like the Steelers hadn’t learned from previous mistakes and continued to try strategies that clearly weren’t working. While Wilson’s mindset of not focusing on the past and moving forward is the mark of a true leader, his comments didn’t address the recent poor performance of the offense.
The Week 18 game was a great opportunity for Pittsburgh to get back on track, especially after their 44-point performance in the last meeting with the Bengals.
But the offense came out flat, not scoring until the second quarter and not putting up another point until late in the fourth quarter. This kind of performance likely won’t lead to a playoff win, and the streak of playoff losses for Mike Tomlin could continue for another year.
With the playoffs approaching, the Steelers need to fix their issues quickly. They might face another trip to Baltimore, a place they’d prefer to avoid for another week, but it’s out of their control due to the loss to the Bengals. This loss came down to players not doing their jobs properly, a problem that has been discussed for weeks.
Wilson Needs to Lead the Offense to Stop the Struggles
Wilson was brought in to help the Steelers win their seventh Lombardi, something that seemed possible after his early performances for Pittsburgh. Now, Wilson needs to find a way to get himself and the offense working together.
He struggled to connect with George Pickens during the Bengals game, which became a big topic for the Steelers that week. While Wilson’s goal remains winning the Super Bowl, most of the team would just like to focus on winning their Wild Card game. It’s do or die for the Steelers, and whatever changes are needed, they have to happen now.
