Five weeks ago, the beginning of the end began for the Pittsburgh Steelers and on Saturday night, the Steelers season came to a merciful end. Pittsburgh wrapped things up with a 28-14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the fifth-straight loss of the season and are officially eliminated from the playoffs.
The game started about as poorly as it could for the Steelers. The offense came out flat, the defense came out flat and at halftime the Ravens led 21-0 and had outgained the Steelers 308-59.
We could talk about the rally the Steelers made at the start of the second half but why bother? Yes, the Steelers offense put together two touchdown drives but they only served to frustrate more when you consider how poorly the offensive played in the first half.
Defensively, the Steelers came out with no fire in them at all. The impact of Ravens Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry was as much psychological as it was physical as it appeared the defense wanted no part of trying to stop either player.
Now the Ravens will move on in the playoffs, Jackson will likely win the MVP and the criticism of Jackson for falling short in the playoffs can quiet down. Meanwhile, the Steelers are one and done again in the playoffs and the window to win without completely blowing up this roster shrinks even more.
