While the Steelers have had an up and down season, these four aspects have easily been the most disappointing elements of 2021.
It has been one of the most inconsistent and frustrating seasons for the Steelers in recent years. At times, this team looks like they are unstoppable, but far too often this team has put up some putrid outings. With their season wrapping up, it seemed like a good time to reminisce on what went wrong with the team.
Here are the four worst things that happened to the Steelers in the 2021 season.
Bush’s regression on Steelers defense
The Steelers had obviously high hopes for Devin Bush after trading up into the top ten to draft him. While he looked like he was developing last year before his injury, 2021 has been a different story. Not only has Bush regressed, but he has also become a regular liability on the defense. At this point, the idea of him being a bust is well in play and there is little guarantee that he is starting in 2022.
While many say that he is still healing from his injury, his athleticism isn’t the issue. Instead, he has been taking horrible angles as a tackler and has been misreading coverages. Worse yet, he has next to no instincts as a run defender. He is constantly waiting far too long for the play to set up as opposed to reading the play and attacking the proper gap.
The hope for Bush when he was drafted was that he would develop into one of the better three-down linebackers in the league. He has failed to this point, and 2021 has really made fans question if Bush should be with the team through next season let alone long term. While a slow start after an injury isn’t the end of the world, Bush has been regularly playing at a below-average level. His play in 2021 has been one of the worst storylines from an underachieving defense.
Steelers misread what Green can do
While not as high of a profile as the Steelers’ top two draft picks, Kendrick Green quickly developed a fan club after being drafted in the third round. This was due to his good athleticism and nasty streak as a blocker despite being an undersized guard in college. His early-season play was as expected, as he had his share of inconsistencies as a blocker.
Since about halfway through the season though, Green has seemingly fallen off a cliff. Teams have more tape on him and know how to better exploit his poor technique. Worse yet, his snaps have become inconsistent. Compare that to Dan Moore, who was equally inconsistent early in the season but has developed into a steadier presence, and Green is already facing an uphill battle to be a good draft pick.
Now, the talk isn’t about him being the starting center long-term. Instead, some are already questioning if Green should move back to guard. Unfortunately, that won’t fix his size and technique issues. The Steelers seemed set on taking Green and him performing well enough to be a quality starter this season. They were wrong, and it has cost this offense quite a few times in 2021.
Steelers suffer a sophomore slump
Despite not having a first-round pick in 2020, the Steelers got a surprising amount of play out of their rookie class. Chase Claypool developed into a huge offensive weapon, Kevin Dotson flashed in a reserve role, and even undrafted rookie James Pierre become a steady special teams’ contributor with the expectation that he would be a contributor on defense in 2021.
To this point, the class really hasn’t lived up to expectations. Claypool has been inconsistent and maddingly immature so far this season. All of this despite him being a starter from the get-go this season and seeing an increased workload with JuJu Smith-Schuster injured. He will need a bounce-back campaign in 2022 if he wants any chance to stay with the team long-term.
Pierre never really panned out on defense. While he looked ok at times, his technique on deep passes led to him being exposed. Dotson hasn’t played poorly, but he has failed to develop from his rookie season and has played below where most expected him. While there is time for all three of these players to turn it around, their 2021 performances have been a disappointing element from this season.
Steelers fail to create a potent running game
The Steelers went into the last offseason with the mantra being to fix the run game. After a pair of disappointing seasons running the ball, the offensive line was overhauled, and a new running back was needed. Despite this desire to run better, the team failed to address the entire unit. There were no significant free agents brought in and the team drafted Najee Harris in the first round expecting him to completely change this unit.
That hasn’t happened, and there are two main culprits to blame. The popular scapegoat has been the line, and they are deserving of a lot of the blame. They have failed to regularly open holes for Harris forcing him to fight for most of his gains. That said, this is the unit that the front office decided would work. They only invested a third and fourth-round pick in the line, and it shows.
While a fine player, Harris hasn’t been perfect either. While an extremely tough runner, he lacks explosion which has limited his big runs. As well, he has made slow or poor decisions with the ball in his hands which has cost the team yards. It has been a failure from multiple fronts and considering the Steelers’ decree that they were going to fix the running game, the fact that they haven’t is hugely disappointing.
The Steelers have had their fair share of ups and downs this season. Unfortunately, a lot of the bad elements from this season have kept this team back. While it hasn’t all been bad, these four elements have easily been the worst aspects of the 2021 season.