Steelers' Minkah Fitzpatrick: 'I Think We Need More People Who Want to Work for It'

The Pittsburgh Steelers' 21-18 loss to the New England Patriots on Thursday night has Minkah Fitzpatrick questioning his teammates' desire.

Fitzpatrick told reporters after the loss when asked about what the mindset of the team is:

"In order to see the fruit, you've gotta toil for it. I think too many people don't want to toil for it. They just want to walk out here and think that they're going to make plays and think that they're going to perform at a high level. I think we need to have more people who want to work for it, not expect it to be handed to them."

"This is the NFL. Nothing's handed to you. You got to earn everything. I think that dudes just think that because they're wearing the black and gold, that they're going to win games, and I think we need to check that mentality and make people realize that they got to earn that mentality, and they got to earn every single blade of grass, every single splash play and every single rep that they get out there. They got to earn it."

Thursday's game marked Pittsburgh's second straight loss to a team that entered the matchup with just two wins. The Steelers fell to the Arizona Cardinals 24-10 last weekend.

The losses could perhaps be linked to the loss of quarterback Kenny Pickett, who suffered an ankle injury against the Cardinals and exited the matchup before being ruled out for Thursday's game against New England.

Mitchell Trubisky has filled in for Pickett, and his performance has been underwhelming. The veteran's performance against the Patriots was particularly disappointing as he completed 22 of 35 passes for just 190 yards and one touchdown against one interception.

Pittsburgh's offense has struggled all season, but it is seemingly hitting new lows while being led by Trubisky.

The Steelers will be back in action on Dec. 16 against the Indianapolis Colts and a loss would drop them to .500 on the year.