3 reasons the Steelers missed the playoffs in 2018

The Pittsburgh Steelers just fell short of the playoffs in 2018. Here are three big reasons that kept them out of the race.

Disappointing doesn’t quite cut it when it comes to the Steelers’ season in 2018. After tying the Browns in week one of the regular season, Pittsburgh choked down the stretch – losing three consecutive games at one point and finishing with a 9-6-1 record.

What’s done is done, but the sting of last season still lingers with us Steelers fans. Here are the three main reasons why Pittsburgh missed the playoffs in 2018:

Chis Boswell was terrible

There really isn’t another way to put this. The ‘Wizard of Boz’ was anything but that in 2018, and was the individual responsible for the losses of several games. In 2017, Boswell was fantastic – knocking in 35 of 38 kicks (92.1 percent). Last year, however, his accuracy plummeted down to 65 percent. Boswell even missed 5 extra point attempts last season.

It got so bad that the Steelers could no longer trust him in reasonable situations – often electing to go for it on 4th down instead. If not for a massive contract extension he signed, there is no doubt that Pittsburgh would have cut him and found a replacement last season. Boswell was terrible in 2018, and was a big reason why the Steelers missed the playoffs.

Ben Roethlisberger threw too many interceptions

I know it’s always easy to throw blame on the quarterback, and the truth is Ben Roethlisberger didn’t have an easy job. However, as it goes in the game of football, your team lives and dies by the quarterback and Ben was not careful enough with the ball last season.

Though he led the league in pass attempts, Ben Roethlisberger also led the NFL in interceptions – some of them coming in very costly moments. Big Ben’s 16 interceptions were too many last season. If he could have a few of these erred throws back, the Steelers would have been looking at the playoffs in 2018.

Steelers failed to close out games

As is the case with a team that fails to reach 10 wins in a season, the Pittsburgh Steelers failed to close out games in 2018. I recently wrote an article showing that statistics say the Steelers should have been better than their record indicated in 2018.

However, after a six-game win streak in the middle of the season, Pittsburgh dropped 4 of their next 5 games by a combined 16 points. Three of those losses were decided by a mere 3 points. Good teams need to be able to close out games late in the season. It was the Steelers inability to do this that led to their demise.

The good news in all of this is that the 2018 season is now behind us. We can look forward to the Steelers being a competitive football team again in this season. Here’s to hoping things go a little bit better in 2019.