The Steelers were soundly beaten by the Bengals for the second time this season, and these four takeaways can be taken from this brutal loss.
It was a loss that won’t soon be forgotten, as the Steelers were beaten in every aspect during a miserable loss to the Bengals. Looking past this game isn’t easy, but these takeaways should be the focus for the team heading into their next matchup vs. the Ravens. Here are four takeaways we as fans can take away from the Week 12 loss.
Steelers Claypool is having a sophomore slump
There was a ton of hype for the Steelers sophomore Chase Claypool heading into the year. He was explosive as a rookie and was a major scoring threat, and the expectation was for him to continue there this season. This was furthered after JuJu Smith-Schuster was lost for the season and Claypool started seeing some action out of the slot.
While Claypool hasn’t been bad this year, he certainly has left fans yearning for more. While he has been an effective deep threat, he has only found the end zone once. Even his plays down the field have been inconsistent, as his hands have been questionable. His poor hands were on display this week as he struggled with drop issues on plays that he should have made the catch for.
While Claypool isn’t struggling as much as Diontae Johnson did as a sophomore, his play has been lackluster. While the occasional deep play is great, he needs to be more effective on other plays in the short and medium passing game. It has been a mixed year with some highs and lows, but Claypool’s inconsistent play and lack of touchdowns have led to a sophomore slump.