PITTSBURGH — Ben Roethlisberger looked old and was awful Monday night in the Steelers’ 27-17 loss to the lowly Cincinnati Bengals. A lot of the loss can be placed on his shoulders, but don’t kid yourself: There are a number of Steelers who didn’t exactly distinguish themselves.
I would argue that Roethlisberger wasn’t the Steelers worst player, or the one who looked the oldest and closest to being done. Did you see Steelers left tackle Al Villanueva? He hasn’t been very good all season, but on Monday, I couldn’t tell if he was playing against Lawrence Taylor or whoever the Bengals had opposite him on a given play.
Villanueva got beat early and often and provided very little resistance. He wasn’t the only one, though, as the offensive line got blown up on a number of short-yardage plays and didn’t give Roethlisberger nearly as clean of a pocket to throw out of. The Steelers’ offensive line is getting old and there is no way around it any more.
Stephon Tuitt got manhandled pretty much all night as well and the injuries behind the line on defense are starting to take their toll on that unit. You simply can’t replace the kind of talent the Steelers are trying to replace and expect the unit to continue to play at a high level.
This was supposed to be the last hurrah for a Super Bowl run around Roethlisberger. He is 38 and he has this year and next year on his contract. It was going to be his time to ride off into the sunset a champion. Father Time, however, is undefeated and in this case, has sacked the Steelers’ hopes of one last run with the old cowboy at the helm.
Roethlisberger can’t make basic throws down the field any more, his offensive line can’t dominate any more and the defense is beat up and short-handed. They still shouldn’t lose to the Bengals but when you add some terrible turnovers into the mix, they are capable of losing to anyone.
Three weeks ago Steelers fans were dreaming of the Steelers taking down Kansas City in the AFC championship. Now, that sentiment seems like it was three years ago. I’m not sure the Steelers could beat Florida State’s Marching Chiefs in a football game right now, much less the Kansas City Chiefs.
And while we are at it, let me add this — the two most significant things JuJu Smith-Schuster did in this game did nothing to help the Steelers win. One of them helped the Steelers lose the game. The first was his sophomoric and ridiculous TikTok dance on the Bengals logo. It has become such a talking point it was part of the highlights package on ESPN after the game. Seriously.
The second came late in the first quarter when he caught a pass, took two steps, and then was lit up like a Christmas tree by Bengals’ safety Vonn Bell. Smith-Schuster fumbled and the Bengals turned the short field into a touchdown.
Bell was one of the Bengals who made it clear before the game that he would handle business with Smith-Schuster on the field and during the game.
“It’s kind of disrespectful at the end of the day,” Bell said to ESPN. “But they’re on top right now so you can’t really say nothing right now. We just gotta go out there, between the lines, go out there and hit him and let him know where he stands.”
At one point Smith-Schuster was the Steelers top receiver but he has become a bit of a clown show and it is hurting his performance. Antonio Brown pulled some of the same stuff but the difference is, when the game started he went out and was the best player on the field. Smith-Schuster is a microcosm of the Steelers’ issues — he talks and acts like a superstar but doesn’t perform like one.
The Steelers are still 11-3 so they have that going for them. If they could ever get everyone healthy on defense, they should still have one of the best defenses in the league, so there’s that. And yes they still have a Hall of Famer at quarterback but this idea there is a fountain of youth out there for him to find and make one last run is a pipe dream.
And it is an even bigger pipe dream that the Steelers offensive line can get better or the running backs will be anything more than just sort of pedestrian. I give Benny Snell credit for running hard and getting some tough yards but the Steelers need a game changer back there and he isn’t that.
It wasn’t supposed to end this way for the Steelers and when they were 11-0 it didn’t look like it would. This wasn’t a fluke, this wasn’t a bad night at the office, either, this was a butt kicking by the Bengals, who were the younger, hungrier and dare I say better team. The Steelers can no longer hide or overcome their flaws, they have been exposed for what they are — an aging team whose time has passed.
