Steel City Underground presents post-game takeaways from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ playoffs that focus on how the team performed, key statistics, their opponents and more!
The Pittsburgh Steelers hosted the prime-time Monday night Wild Card at Acrisure Stadium against the Houston Texans riding the high of their AFC North championship win over the Baltimore Ravens, but the defense of the Texans was just too much for the Steelers. We look at the biggest takeaways from the NFL playoffs loss.
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Defense was the name of the game early
Both the Steelers and the Texans played a game that saw early success come from their defenses. In the first quarter alone, Pittsburgh strip-sacked Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud twice to recover a fumble. Houston was just as dominating, shutting down Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers offense with a dose of heavy pressure, run-stopping power, and tight coverage down the field. By halftime, the score was just 7-3. It was because both teams’ offenses weren’t very effective or efficient.
The Steelers could not capitalize on their takeaways on offense, and that created a situation that led to a long game for their defense. Ultimately, the unbalanced play led to a defense that didn’t have enough steam to carry the entire team for a full 60 minutes.
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Rodgers’ frustration carried over into the second half
The frustration that Rogers wasn’t good about hiding on Monday night began in the first half and carried over into the third and fourth quarters of this game. The Steelers were able to convert just 2-14 third-downs and just 2-3 fourth downs. Despite trips into the red zone, Pittsburgh could not find a way to get into the end zone and scored off of the leg of Chris Boswell to the tune of two field goals.
Pittsburgh gained just 63 yards of rushing (18 carries) and 112 yards of passing (18 completions on 34 throws). In contrast, Rodgers saw several balls batted down, threw several passes away while under pressure, and was sacked 4 times for a loss of 36 yards.
It was hardly Rogers’ best performance and will go down as his poorest career playoff performance. He appeared rattled and upset throughout the game.
The question now will be whether or not the veteran will, indeed, retire after this loss or try another season with Pittsburgh. He has hinted that this playoff stretch would signal the end of his career, but that remains to be seen. After the performance the Steelers put together, though, it would not come as a shock if Rogers did decide that he was ready to hang up the cleats.
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Could the loss signal a regime change in Pittsburgh?
A winning season and an AFC North championship may not be enough to give head coach Mike Tomlin the leverage he needs to remain in Pittsburgh. While there has been no indication that Art Rooney II or the ownership of the Steelers are looking for a change, fans certainly have asked for more from the long-time head coach. The loss will ramp up discussions about major changes being needed amongst fans, however. If they were ready for the group to be changed-out or fired earlier in the season, another one-and-done in the opening round of the playoffs will sit even worse.
Once the Texans dominated the second half of the game on Monday night, it released all the pent up hope that fans held following the win over the Ravens in Week 18. And, once the bubble has popped – as it has for so many teams across the NFL following their regular seasons – it is hard to fill back up.
The next few weeks should be interesting to see what the Steelers have as far as plans. For fans, they’re wondering if the grass may be greener… and while it isn’t always, it may be to them if there is a change in regime in Pittsburgh regardless of the hardships of starting over with new coaching staff.
