The Steelers are all alone in last place in the AFC North, and it looks like they might stay there.
Spare me the excuses. The Baltimore Ravens played without half their team Sunday, too, and found a way to win at Detroit (on a 66-yard field goal that bounced off the crossbar, but still).
The Steelers, on the other hand, turned in one of the most pathetic performances in Heinz Field history — including Pitt-Western Michigan — in a 24-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
“Man, we’re just not playing well enough or coaching well enough,” Mike Tomlin said. “You can frame it however the hell you want to frame it.”
Pitiful works. Disorganized does, too. The predominant feeling watching this debacle unfold was profound sadness. The quarterback looked 103 years old. Every starter on the offensive line was called for at least one penalty. A man named Derrek Tuszka was masquerading as a pass rusher.
Yes, I know, the Steelers lost JuJu Smith-Schuster and played without T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Stephon Tuitt, Tyson Alualu and Devin Bush.
Wait, what?
Bush played?
Anyway, no excuses. Not for this. It wasn’t just a loss. It was the first time the Steelers lost to the Bengals by more than 10 points since 1995. It felt symbolic.
I could have chosen 20 or 30 plays that best epitomized this chaotic calamity.
Instead, I chose 10 — in reverse order:
10. Double whammy: With the Steelers trailing 24-7, Ray-Ray McCloud fell flat on his rear end and let a punt roll to the 8, even as Justin Layne was called for holding — one of 10 enforced penalties on the Steelers.
9. Ben’s terrible overthrow: The Steelers still had a chance when Ben Roethlisberger overthrew a wide-open James Washington down the left sideline. It would have resulted in a touchdown (assuming Washington caught it) and cut the Bengals lead to seven (assuming Chris Boswell made the extra point). Ben is aging faster than Steve Carrell in “Evan Almighty.”
8. Who is that guy? Many of us, I’m sure, were asking that question every time Tuszka rushed the passer. It looked like the winner of a fan contest getting to play a few downs for the Steelers.
7. Tackle in motion: Yes, Matt Canada loves that pre-snap motion with his tackles. This time, on the second play of the game, Chuks Okorafor went in motion — and lined up with nobody in front of him, resulting in a flag.
6. The old zero-yard pass: Nothing was sadder than watching Roethlisberger throw almost all short and sideways passes again. We’ll get to the grandaddy of ‘em all in a minute, but another came early: A zero-yard completion to Chase Claypool on 3rd-and-23 on the second series. Boos rained down, as they would frequently.
5. Ben’s pirouette: This happened late in the first half. Ben moved to his right like he was walking in wet cement, then tried a spin move on B.J. Hill.
It didn’t work.
4. Three flags? Yes, three flags in the end zone. The Steelers were trying to score — I think — so they tried yet another miniature pass, and McCloud started drive-blocking somebody before the reception. Claypool appeared to start blocking early, too, but honestly I lost track. Was the penalty on Claypool?
3. Why quit now? OK, the end-of-half sequence is going to take a minute. First, the Steelers called timeout with 1:09 left and the ball at the Bengals 4. That gave Joe Burrow extra time in a 7-7 game when Cincy got the ball back. That’s when Ja’Marr Chase smoked James Pierre for a touchdown.
But what happened next was worse. The Steelers called a give-up run play on 3rd-and-10 from their 25 with 25 seconds left. Would that have happened with a younger Ben? Also, it seemed odd to quit there when just a week earlier, down nine with 20 seconds left in the game, the Steelers tried a crossing pattern from their 25 — the one that got Diontae Johnson hurt on.
Finally, after the Steelers quit, the Bengals kept trying and might have ended the half with a field goal. Burrow completed a 21-yard pass right away, from his 33, but saw it called back on holding.
2. Wrong guy, Ben: Roethlisberger’s pass to Logan Wilson — who plays for the Bengals — was at once laughable and horribly sad. Especially when he tried to make the tackle. Trent Green’s deep TV analysis of Ben’s throw (the second pick by Wilson): “The only thing I can say is that he didn’t see him.”
Thanks, Trent.
Not surprisingly, the Steelers also were penalized for holding on the play.
1 Yes, that really happened: I literally had to replay this one 10 times to make sure it happened. On 4th-and-10 from the Bengals 11, with time winding down, Ben dumped the ball to Najee Harris 6 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
What did he expect would happen?
What did Matt Canada expect would happen?
What did ANYBODY ON EARTH expect would happen?
Tomlin’s mind-blowing explanation of the play, which was called after a timeout and resulted in a 1-yard loss, seemed to indicate the Steelers were out of plays. Like, they just didn’t have any more.
“We had fired all our bullets at that juncture,” Tomlin said.
How about firing one more toward the end zone? Like something that at least had a chance of getting the first down.
Am I dreaming this?
