Steelers Can Probably Kiss Playoffs Goodbye After Back-to-Back Embarrassing Losses

A week after suffering a stunning 24-10 loss to the visiting Arizona Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Steelers were widely expected to bounce back against the New England Patriots. They lost 21-18, and what's worse, they were pretty far out of it for most of the game.

When the postseason starts in a little over a month, the Steelers might be out of that too.

Did anyone expect Pittsburgh to dominate? Perhaps not with backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky starting in the wake of Kenny Pickett's ankle surgery. However, the Steelers were at home, in command of the AFC's top wild-card spot and playing a two-win Patriots team that has looked as rudderless as any team in the league.

Instead of winning a close, gritty game, Pittsburgh lost it. Trubisky (22-of-35 for 190 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) made the mistakes many could have anticipated, while the defense made Patriots backup Bailey Zappe look like Tom Brady for much of the contest.

The Steelers fell into a 21-3 hole and never managed to climb out of it.

The loss means that the Steelers have lost consecutive home games to two-win teams—something that would have been an unfathomable fact two weeks ago, when Pittsburgh was 7-4.

Even more unbelievable is the fact that no team with a winning record has ever experienced the low that the Steelers just did.

The loss also means that Pittsburgh is on the verge of bidding adieu to a playoff berth. Yes, the Steelers are still sitting at 7-6, and there are worse places to be in early December. However, they're trending in the wrong direction, and fast.

It's not hard to blame Pickett's injury, which he suffered against Arizona. However, the proverbial ship sprung its first alarming leak in Week 11, when the Steelers lost to the Cleveland Browns.

After Pickett was outplayed by fifth-round rookie and backup quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, the team fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada.

"It's my role to absorb and protect those that I work with," head coach Mike Tomlin said, per ESPN's Brooke Pryor. "This doesn't feel like that. I'm not assigning blame or deflecting in any way. ... Just rest assured that this decision was not taken lightly."

The reality is that the offense wasn't good enough or creative enough with Canada calling the plays—not with standouts like George Pickens, Diontae Johnson, Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris in the lineup.

Tomlin did a fine enough job of keeping the team together, leaning on his defense and piecing together wins, but the offense needed to find a jolt if Pittsburgh wanted to be a serious contender.

Interim coordinator Eddie Faulkner and interim play-caller Mike Sullivan haven't been much better. They did help produce Pittsburgh's first 400-yard game in the Week 12 win over the Cincinnati Bengals—and their backup quarterback, Jake Browning—but the offense put a mere 16 points on the board.

That hasn't been the only issue, as the defense has started to show cracks over the past couple of weeks. Last week, the Cardinals physically imposed their will on Pittsburgh early and often. Arizona finished with 150 rushing yards, with former Steeler James Conner accounting for 105 of them and two touchdowns.

That game featured two lengthy weather delays that seemed to sap the fight from Pittsburgh. But it didn't have the same effect on Arizona.

On Thursday, Zappe spent the majority of the first half poking holes in the Steelers secondary.

Zappe, making only his second start of the season, finished the first half 14-of-21 for 196 yards and three touchdowns.

The Steelers did perform better in the second half, using a Mykal Walker interception and a blocked punt that set up a Trubisky rushing touchdown and a two-point conversion to climb within three points. That's as close as they would come.

The fight we saw from Pittsburgh in the second half is why this team can still make a push for the postseason. The lack of effort and slew of mistakes we saw last week and for most of the first two quarters on Thursday is why they might not.

Again, a Patriots team that scored 13 total points over the last three games scored 21 in the first half. That's simply too many points for a team with this many offensive issues to overcome.

For the moment, the Steelers have fallen below the 7-5 Browns, Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts in the wild-card race. The playoff picture is currently as follows:

• 1. Miami Dolphins 9-3
• 2. Baltimore Ravens 9-3
• 3. Kansas City Chiefs 8-4
• 4. Jacksonville Jaguars 8-4
• 5. Cleveland Browns 7-5
• 6. Indianapolis Colts 7-5
• 7. Houston Texans 7-5

The 7-6 Steelers, 6-6 Denver Broncos, 6-6 Cincinnati Bengals and 6-6 Buffalo Bills are also in the mix. The Colts and Bengals play each other this week, but staying ahead of the other teams in the hunt is going to be a challenge for Pittsburgh.

The defense hasn't been consistent enough, and the offense continues to make baffling choices—Pickens was rarely targeted downfield and finished with 19 yards on five catches. Pickett's injury won't help matters. Neither will the neck injury No. 2 pass-rusher Alex Highsmith suffered on Thursday.

The road ahead is extremely daunting too. The Steelers have just one home game left, against the Bengals in Week 16. They'll visit the Colts next week and finish with road games against the Seattle Seahawks and Baltimore Ravens.

Every one of Pittsburgh's remaining opponents currently sits at .500 or better. Three of those games are on the road. If the Steelers can't beat teams like Arizona and New England at home, posting a winning record down the stretch feels unlikely at best.

Even if the Steelers go .500 the rest of the way, they'll finish at 9-8. That would maintain Tomlin's streak of not having a losing season, but nine wins probably isn't making the postseason.

Consider the fact that the Browns, Broncos, Colts and Texans all face remaining schedules that are easier than average over the final five weeks. At this point, the odds simply aren't in Pittsburgh's favor—and the Steelers have no one but themselves to blame.

True contenders beat the teams they're supposed to. Had the Steelers done that over the past two weeks, they'd be 9-4 and very much alive in the AFC North race. Instead, they finished flat in Week 13, started flat in Week 14 and now need help just to get into the dance.