Steelers vs. Chiefs: A Winning Game Plan

2016 Season: Steelers blowout the Chiefs at home in 43-14 victory.

I bet every Steelers fan is praying for a repeat of this game. In perhaps the Steeler’s most dominant showing of the year, Pittsburgh outmatched the Chiefs to the tune of Ben’s 300 passing yards, 5 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions.

Getting Off to a Hot Start

Most importantly, the Steeler’s offense and defense came out hot to jump out to a 22-0 first quarter lead. Pittsburgh hit Kansas City in the mouth and never looked back in an impressive showing.

Offensively, the Steelers were re-energized with Le’Veon Bell back from suspension. With the Chiefs defense having to account for the threat of the run, Roethlisberger opened up the passing game and connected for 3 first quarter touchdowns in a 6 play span. Antonio Brown reeled in two of the scores, similar to his 2 first quarter touchdowns against Miami in the Wild Card victory.

Defensive High Energy Effort

Pittsburgh’s defense also did an excellent job of getting the ball back to the hot offense with 2 first quarter turnovers. While defensively winning the turnover battle 2-0, the Steelers also pressured Alex Smith to the tune of 4 sacks. Three came at the hand of the now injured Cam Heyward. The other was recorded by Vince Williams, who was filling in for an injured Ryan Shazier. In perhaps the game of his career, Williams racked up 16 tackles on the day. The defense played with high effort throughout the entirety of the game, and revealed a winning game plan for the Steelers.

Lesson

The lessons from this game would be the importance of getting off to a hot start. The Chiefs are not a team particularly built to come from behind, as they would rather control the game with their defense and wait for Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce to win the game for them. If Pittsburgh can jump off to an early lead, similar to the Wild Card win against Miami, Steelers fans can gear up for an AFC Championship game appearance.