The Pittsburgh Steelers had to realize at some time that their current level is insufficient as they were primarily watching Josh Allen race through hesitant tackle attempts on his route to a 52-yard score.
Making the playoffs is fantastic. A playoff berth wouldn’t be all that horrible of a season for some teams. One of those teams shouldn’t be the Steelers. They ought to anticipate more.
In an AFC wild-card game on Monday, the Buffalo Bills defeated Pittsburgh 31-17, demonstrating to the Steelers just how far from being in the running for the championship. Although Buffalo led 21-0 in the second quarter and the Steelers closed the gap to seven points in the fourth, the outcome was always certain. And once Khalil Shakir made a touchdown catch and shown incredible balance to stay on his feet and score, all doubts vanished. The NFL postseason bracket consisted of 14 teams, with the Steelers likely ranking 14th out of them. We are aware of your jokes about the Dallas Cowboys, too.
On Sunday night, the Bills will play the Kansas City Chiefs. It also determined the other AFC divisional round game. On Saturday afternoon, the Houston Texans will visit the Baltimore Ravens.
Allen’s run encapsulated the disparity between the two squads. Buffalo boasts a talented group of blue-chip players, including a standout multi-position quarterback. Although the Steelers boast a number of elite players, Buffalo easily outclasses them in a matchup similar to that of the Bills.
Steelers fall behind quickly
The Steelers had a nice rally late in the season to make the playoffs. They moved to their third starting quarterback, Mason Rudolph, and won three in a row to finish the regular season. With some help, they got in.
Plenty of Steelers fans, particularly the ones old enough to remember the franchise’s Super Bowl glory, won’t be impressed. They’re the ones who reply to the fact that head coach Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season by reciting that this was the seventh straight season without a postseason win. The Steelers are 0-4 in the playoffs in that stretch.
It’s a strange place to be. The Steelers aren’t bad, but the Bills game showed they aren’t close to being on that top tie
It started poorly for Pittsburgh. The Bills forced a punt and then had an easy drive for a touchdown. George Pickens fumbled a catch, the Bills recovered and later cashed that in for another touchdown. Allen’s run, after Rudolph had thrown an interception into the end zone, put Buffalo ahead, 21-0.
This Steelers loss wasn’t like the Cowboys falling to the Packers on Sunday, in which Dallas had the talent to make a Super Bowl and went utterly flat when it mattered. The Steelers just aren’t good enough to compete with teams like the Bills in the playoffs. That has been a problem for a few years.
Bills maintain their lead
Maybe the difference between the teams was that the Bills have Allen and the Steelers have nothing close. That’s certainly a factor the Steelers have to consider as they head to the offseason. Kenny Pickett hasn’t worked out yet, Mitchell Trubisky was poor when he had to play and while Rudolph got hot, you’re going only so far with him. But it’s not easy to upgrade at quarterback.
The Steelers might also have to wonder about Tomlin’s future. There has been some speculation that he could step down after the season, and his reaction to a postgame question about his future only adds to the mystery. As much as Steelers fans complain about Tomlin, it would be very hard to replace him.
The Steelers rallied a bit after a horrible start. A blocked field goal led to the Steelers’ first touchdown. They had a drive that ended with a field goal, cutting Buffalo’s lead to 21-10. The Steelers scored on a pass from Rudolph to Calvin Austin with 10:32 left and that cut Buffalo’s lead to 24-17. Tomlin’s teams will always fight hard. But Shakir had a fine play, staying off the ground and then scoring on a 17-yard touchdown to practically put the game away.
On the other side, the Bills are clearly one of the few teams that can win a Super Bowl, though their tendency to play down to the competition is bothersome. They should have never been sweating Monday’s game after taking a 21-0 lead, but didn’t do much after the blocked field goal. The Bills also took a potentially huge injury when linebacker Terrel Bernard was carted off with an ankle injury, and that won’t help on a short week before playing the Chiefs.
The Bills are moving on, and despite some lapses it’s not outrageous to believe they can win a Super Bowl. Pittsburgh remembers having that type of team, even if the Steelers haven’t been at that level in a while and might need a lot of work to get there again.
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