3 things learned from Steelers Wild Card loss to Cleveland Browns

The Steelers furious comeback attempt fell short in the Wild Card game against the Cleveland Browns.

I honestly don’t know what to make of what we witnessed on Sunday night against the Browns.  The fact that the Steelers had to climb out of a cavernous hole that we dug for ourselves from the very first snap of the game tells you how this game eventually unfolded.

It just seemed like we were ‘out of sorts’ on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball.  We gave up too many big plays on defense and we turned the ball over way too much on offense.  Generally speaking, when the confluence of the aforementioned occurs, it spells defeat.

That was the case against the Browns, a team we almost beat the week prior to Sunday night’s game with several of our key starters not playing.  I can almost guarantee you that most Steelers fans put this game in the win column before kickoff; however, I did not.

Part of the reason I did not assume that we would beat the Browns is the fact that, despite everyone realizing that the Steelers had to establish a running game to put ourselves in a position to win the game, I knew that we were going to struggle in the running game.

Why would I assume we would be able to all of a sudden ‘flip the switch’ and be able to run the ball when we couldn’t really get it going for most of the regular season? With that little rant out of the way, let’s take a look at what we learned in what can only be described as a devastating loss to the Browns.