Pittsburgh was embarrassed in their first playoff game since 2017. Here are the winners and losers from the Steelers loss to the Browns.
The Steelers could be at the end of an ear as they gift-wrapped a playoff win to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday night. The game started rough, and while the team tried to bounce back, it was all for not. While the loss was certainly a tough pill to swallow, there were a few bright spots that should be noted. That said, there are unsurprisingly more losers on this list, as the Steelers suffered their worst home loss in a long time. Here are the two winners and three losers from their 48-37 loss.
Loser: The Offense
While there were certainly bright spots on the offense (more on them below), the first quarter completely killed this team. The erred snap along with the pathetic attempt to fall on the football allowed for the Browns to go up early. Throw in the multiple interceptions and suddenly this team found themselves down by 28 points in only the first quarter. It didn’t matter how well the team played afterward; they had already sufficiently shot themselves in the foot.
Throw in some lackluster play calling (again, more on that below) and a running game that was never even looked at due to the early deficit, and you have a group that aids in ending the season. Despite his gaudy stats, Ben Roethlisberger had a bad game overall. The worst of the unit was Maurkice Pouncy, who had the bad snaps and was only ok as a blocker. This unit failed this week despite putting up 37 points.