KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It's become impossible to say that the Steelers are not consistent this year.
In fact, they've become incredibly consistent in their performances.
They find a way to win at home, even if it's ugly. On the road, not only do they play poorly, they often get smacked around for at least a half before sometimes making a game of it late.
That didn't happen in this game, as the Steelers weren't in the same class as the Chiefs here at Arrowhead Stadium. Often, they didn't even look like they belonged in the same league.
The Steelers turned the ball over three times, fell behind by the first 23 points and were never really in this game as the Chiefs hammered them, 36-10.
"We didn’t do enough in any of the three phases. Disappointing day on offense. We turned the ball over. We’ve had our struggles on offense, but when we take care of the football, we give ourselves a chance," said Mike Tomlin. "We didn’t. We had three of those. That was catastrophic. We didn’t get necessary stops on defense when we got put on a short field. Largely, we didn’t win enough of the weighty downs.
"This is a collective. Players and coaches, we own this. Now, we get singularly focused on our two division games. We can’t cry over spilled milk."
The Steelers have now gone five consecutive games without a first-half touchdown, the first time they've done that in a season since 1940. And they've been outscored 97-9 in those games.
Yet, somehow, some way, they're still in this thing at 7-7-1, having found a way to win two of those five games.
That's why they're not going to quit, particularly with games remaining at home next week against the Browns and then on the road the following week at Baltimore. The Steelers want to win those two games and see what happens.
"Excuse my language, but I ain’t accepting (anything)," Cam Heyward said. "We’ve got a lot of football left to play. A lot will be said in these last two games. I know it wasn’t perfect today. It breaks my heart letting our fans down, letting our team down. But man, I ain’t ready to throw in no damn towel. We’ve got a lot of football left, two games to see where we can fall."
They'll certainly need to play better than they have -- particularly on the road -- if they have any hope of finishing this season out with any kind of positive. And in this game, they picked the wrong team to have yet another slow start against.
Despite playing without All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce, who is on the Reserve/COVID-19 List, and despite the Steelers somehow limiting All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill to two catches for 19 yards, the Chiefs clinched the AFC West championship for the sixth-consecutive season and improved to 11-4 with their eighth-straight win.
No matter all the moving pieces around him, the Chiefs still had Patrick Mahomes. And every time it appeared the Steelers defense might be in line to make a stop, Mahomes made a play.
He completed 23 of 30 passes for 258 yards and three touchdowns, numbers that don't truly show how good he was. Mahomes was 10 of 12 for 99 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter. He was 19 of 25 for 205 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.
Everything after that was window dressing.
And for the Steelers, that was more than enough to seal their fate.
They picked up one first down on their opening possession before a third-down sack by Frank Clark forced a punt.
Even when it looked like the Steelers would get a stop, they didn't. The Chiefs converted a fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 3 on a fullback dive, then stopped the Chiefs on first-and-goal at the 1.
It appeared the defense might keep Kansas City out of the end zone when Robert Spillane -- starting in place of Devin Bush (COVID-19) -- shot a gap and hit Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the backfield.
But this happened instead. Right play call, bad execution:
Teammate Alex Highsmith shoots in and essentially tackled Spillane off Edwards-Helaire, who kept his feet, bounced to the outside and scored to make it 7-0.
Then, after the kickoff, the Steelers tried a little trickery, running a flea-flicker. But Ben Roethlisberger's pass to Ray-Ray McCloud sailed over his head and Charvarius Ward picked it off, giving Kansas City the ball at midfield:
"We had a flea-flicker called. I saw Ray-Ray and I stepped up quickly. It sailed on me a little bit. I’m not going to blame anything but myself," Roethlisberger said.
Mahomes made the Steelers pay, tossing a 5-yard touchdown pass to Byron Pringle for a 14-0 lead. Pringle finished with six receptions for 75 yards and two touchdowns.
And given the way the Steelers were performing offensively, that lead might as well have been 100-0.
At that point, it was only a matter of how much the Chiefs would win by
"I’ll say it’s just execution. It’s dumb to blame it on everything else rather than ourselves," said rookie running back Najee Harris, who had 19 carries for 93 yards. "We’re a week or two from the end of the season. It’s about time we pointed at ourselves. We got to find a way to execute personally and individually as a team.”
They had better find that quickly if they expect the season to last beyond the next two weeks.
Despite this loss, that's still on the table. But not if the Steelers continue to struggle the way they have.
“I don’t think we’ve lost any confidence. I know that I haven’t lost my confidence," said safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. "I’m a professional football player. We go out there and compete. Whether you’re up 40 or down 40 I’m going to go out there and compete, you play hard, play fast, play physical.
"If you lose your confidence, whether it’s lopsided or not, then you’re not meant for this sport."
Perhaps that's the message that needs to be relayed in the locker room the next two weeks, because the messages that have been used haven't worked.
Teams that play like the Steelers have in losing their past four road games by a combined score of 154-85 don't bring a lot of players back the next season. And many of those players wind up out of the NFL.
"Expecting something different and not doing anything different, shame on us. We’ve got to play a lot better," Heyward said. "I think we go into games with a good game plan, but if you don’t execute at a high level, you get a shellacking like we did today. As a defense, I expect our guys to play better. If we can’t do it, we’ve got the wrong guys in."
• The run defense was somewhat better in this game. Don't misunderstand, it still wasn't great. The Steelers allowed 127 yards on the ground, which used to be a sacrilege. But the Chiefs ran the ball 35 times and averaged 3.6 yards per carry with a long run of 12 yards.
But when the offense is doing nothing and turning the ball over -- against a quarterback the level of Mahomes -- you're going to be in trouble.
The defense certainly wasn't perfect in this game, to be sure. But the offense also didn't give it much of a chance with plays such as this fourth-quarter beauty:
"We are not going to seek comfort in that," Tomlin said. "We have to play better in all three phases.”
• After the above play, rookie center Kendrick Green didn't come out for the next series, replaced by J.C. Hassenauer.
Green had yet another tough day as a blocker, but Tomlin said he suffered a calf injury. It must have come while blowing this block and then making a tackle.
If the Steelers are really going to play these final two games as if they're playoff games -- and they are -- Hassenauer has to start the final two games.
• Roethlisberger finished 23 of 35 for 159 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
The touchdown pass came after the above fumble. And then he was pulled in favor of Mason Rudolph.
"We were not going to let him finish on that turnover," Tomlin said. "We gave him another series and we went down and got something going and took him out.”
Roethlisberger wanted to finish things off -- as he usually does. But this time, Tomlin was firm with him, allowing Rudolph to play the final series.
"That was coach’s decision, his call," Roethlisberger said. "He told me I was out the series before and I told him I didn’t want to be done, I wanted to keep going. He said OK. When we came off next, he told me I was done. There was nothing else I could say about it.”
• T.J. Watt didn't look himself in this game, finishing with one tackle and spending a lot of time on the sideline -- even in the first half.
The Steelers definitely had him on a pitch count.
There was a report earlier in the day from the NFL Network that Watt is dealing with cracked ribs. But both Tomlin and Watt downplayed that.
"He is dealing with a minor injury," Tomlin said. "It was not going to limit his play or prevent him from playing in any way.”
But the fact of the matter is, the Chiefs were playing without their starting right tackle, Lucas Niang, who was on the Reserve/COVID-19 List.
Andrew Wylie got the start and often times, Watt looked content to play patty cakes with him.
"I’m just dealing with minor stuff," Watt said.
The Steelers need the NFL sack leader to play like the NFL sack leader.
• Mahomes didn't have a single rushing attempt in this game, but that doesn't mean his legs weren't a problem for the Steelers.
He scrambled out of trouble to keep plays alive several times, none more painful for the Steelers than a 50-yard pass he completed to backup running back Derrick Gore on a drive he finished off with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman to put the Chiefs up 23-0 late in the second quarter:
Joe Haden had coverage on that side and Hill was in the slot, so the Steelers had Fitzpatrick over top of him -- as they did throughout the game.
But when Mahomes breaks the pocket and runs toward the line of scrimmage, Haden comes up and Mahomes threw it over his head to Gore, whom Fitzpatrick then had to chase down.
"You’ve just got to look at the right things," Fitzpatrick said. "A guy is mobile like that, when you’re playing a zone, you’ve got to play your man all over the field. You can’t abandon your coverage with the quarterback running."
But that's the stress a player such as Mahomes puts on a defense.
• So what are we looking at with these final two weeks?
The Steelers began this game as the No. 7 seed in the AFC playoffs after the 1 p.m. games. They finished this game as the No. 10 seed in the AFC.
At 7-7-1, they need to win their final two games -- against two teams they've already beaten in their first meetings -- and then have the Bengals (9-6) lose their final two games -- at home against the Chiefs and at Cleveland. If that happens, the Steelers win the division because they will have handed the Browns and Ravens a loss each, as well.
And remember, the Browns beat the Bengals, 41-16, in Cincinnati back in Week 9.
"There is an opportunity but it doesn’t happen if we don’t get one," said Roethlisberger. "We’ve got to get one win. Coming home, there’s a big game Monday night. We have two divisional opponents so let’s focus on this one. That’s going to be my message. I’m sure Cam is saying the same thing. Let’s focus on one game, one opponent, trying to get one victory and we’ll see what happens after that."
• Corliss Waitman averaged 60.5 yards per punt on his two kicks in this game in place of Pressley Harvin, who was out after his father died over the weekend.
Wind was certainly a factor, but the Steelers saw enough in Waitman last year to keep him on their practice squad the entire season.
"We have had exposure to Corliss. He has been a part of our program," Tomlin said. "He has a relationship with (Chris) Boswell, so the holding component was a component of the decision making as well. I thought Corliss did a solid job for us. We are appreciative of his efforts."
Boswell did miss a field goal, however, in the first half, from 39 yards. That ended a streak of 43 consecutive makes inside of 40 yards.
It was deflating, as well, as the Steelers had gone to their no-huddle down 17-0 and finally got something going. Not that a field goal there was going to change the outcome.
• The Steelers actually outrushed the Chiefs, 130-127. But a lot of that came after the fact. Harris had 29 yards on eight rushing attempts in the first half, which included a 21-yard run.
Harris had six carries for 36 yards in the third quarter and five attempts for 28 yards in the fourth quarter.
The game was long over by then.
• The Chiefs fixed their offensive line in the offseason by trading a first-round draft pick for left tackle Orlando Brown, signing guard Joe Thuney to a five-year, $80-million deal and then selecting center Creed Humphrey with the 63rd pick, their second selection of the second round. They also got starting right guard Trey Smith in the sixth round because he fell due to concerns about blood clots.
Niang was a third-round pick in 2020 who opted out due to COVID-19 concerns.
So, it is possible for the Steelers to pull off a fix on their offensive line. But you need at least a little bit of luck, as well.
It also doesn't hurt to have a quarterback such as Mahomes to make it work. That covers up a lot of issues.
Kansas City's offensive line isn't great, but Mahomes makes it look better than it is.
At this point in his career, which we're seeing come to a close, Roethlisberger is unable to do that like he once could.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Schedule
• Standings
• Statistics
THE INJURIES, ILLNESSES
• Kendrick Green, center, hurt his calf in the fourth quarter and didn't return
• Trai Turner, right guard, hurt his knee in the fourth quarter and didn't return
• Kevin Rader, tight end, returned to the lineup after missing time with a hip injury
• Pat Freiermuth, tight end, was inactive with a concussion
• Buddy Johnson, inside linebacker, was inactive with a foot injury
• Chris Wormley, defensive end, was inactive with a groin injury
• Isaiah Buggs, defensive end, is on the Reserve/COVID list
• Devin Bush, inside linebacker, is on the Reserve/COVID list
• Marcus Allen, inside linebacker, is on the Reserve/COVID list
• Anthony McFarland, running back, is on the Reserve/COVID list
• Zach Banner, right tackle, is on the Reserve/COVID list
THE AFC NORTH
• Baltimore
• Cincinnati
• Cleveland
THE SCHEDULE
THE MULTIMEDIA
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