Steelers playoff loss to Chiefs was a microcosm of their season

The Steelers were no match for the mighty Kansas City Chiefs, and anyone who watched this team all season saw it coming. Here is how this game showed all of the team’s flaws.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were huge underdogs going into their playoff bout against the Kansas City Chiefs, with most betting sites listing the Chiefs as nearly two-touchdown favorites. Turns out even that was being too conservative.

With their 42-21 win Sunday night, the Chiefs left no doubt in cementing themselves as the AFC favorite to make the Super Bowl. They beat the Steelers in every way possible: big plays in the return game, a consistent ground attack, and Patrick Mahomes continuing his excellent play against Pittsburgh. Their defense continued their resurgent 2nd half of the season as well, limiting the Pittsburgh offense to just 55 total yards in the first half.

The Steelers defense kept the game close for the majority of the first half, even scoring the game’s first points on a fumble return touchdown by T.J. Watt. The offense refused to cooperate, however, and the defense finally started to break down.

Mahomes and the Kansas City offense ended the half by scoring 21 unanswered points, all of which came with under six minutes to go in the half. From there, the rest was history. The Steelers scored two late touchdowns to make the score a bit less lopsided, but this game was never in doubt after the first half.

What stood out most in this game though was how clearly it showed all of the flaws that have plagued this team all season. The offense continued their painful habit of running into a brick wall on 1st and 2nd down before throwing short of the first down marker on 3rd. If they weren’t doing that, they were throwing deep on 3rd and short or failing to attack the middle of the field.

Ben didn’t have his best day in his final game, but his receivers routinely let him down. Diontae Johnson’s drop issues resurfaced, Chase Claypool was a non-factor, and Juju’s return did nothing to spark the offense. Even the usually dependable Najee Harris fumbled for the first time in his career, leading to a Chiefs touchdown.

The defense started strong with big plays by T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward, but as we have seen all season it just wasn’t enough. The run defense was abysmal once again, giving up several big runs to 3rd-string running back Jerick McKinnon. McKinnon also gave the defense problems as a receiver, finishing 2nd on the team in yards with 81.

The secondary struggled to contain any of the Kansas City receivers, allowing 6 different players to catch four or more passes. The pass rush got to Mahomes for 3 sacks and multiple pressures, but he was able to make plays even when his tackles failed to contain Watt and Alex Highsmith.

At the end of the day, Kansas City was just the much better football team. Everyone knew that going in, and the result of this game was hardly surprising. What was hard to stomach for fans was watching this team display all of the issues they have been forced to see all year. There was no emptying of the playbook, no aggressiveness, no trust in the offense. All fans got in Ben Roethlisberger’s last game was more of the same, and they deserved more than that.