Steelers’ last chance fades away as defense fails to deliver in clutch
The Steelers defense was shredded by Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes Sunday afternoon and the secondary will be rightfully ripped for its overall ineptitude in defending the pass. The Steelers had to put the Chiefs in a situation where they had to run.
Maybe that’s what coach Mike Tomlin was thinking with his decision to kick it deep rather than attempt an onside kick with 1:59 remaining after the Steelers had pulled to within five points. The Steelers possessed all three of their timeouts, and the Steelers knew the Chiefs were going to run the ball, bleed the clock and try to pick up a first down.
Every one of the 63,956 in attendance knew a run was coming, and Kareem Hunt gained 9 yards on first down. Perhaps it was a fitting way to end the game.
The Steelers defense did nothing to support Tomlin’s decision to kick it away, and in the end, they let him down.
“I wanted to give ourselves a chance to stop them,” Tomlin said after the 42-37 loss. “We were holding all three timeouts. We didn’t do it effectively enough to create enough time for our offense to function.”
Tomlin was faced with a similar decision in the 45-42 loss to Jacksonville the previous time the Steelers played (for real) at Heinz Field. On that occasion, he chose to onside kick.
Maybe he was just trying to change his luck, but the decision was costly after the Chiefs ran out the clock on the Steelers.
“We knew the run was coming,” safety Sean Davis said. “We didn’t play well. We didn’t make the play. Throughout the whole game we knew what they were going to do. We weren’t on the same page.”
On a day the pass defense gave up 322 yards and six touchdowns to Mahomes, the run defense didn’t fare all that much better. The Chiefs gained 127 yards on the ground and a whopping 5.1 yards per carry. Hunt finished with 75 rushing yards and did plenty to keep the Steelers defense from coming up with an answer to stop Mahomes.
“We didn’t execute,” linebacker Jon Bostic said. “That’s really what it came down to. We can’t give up that much. We need to force them into a three-and-out, get off the field and give the ball back to the offense, give them a chance to go down and win the game.”
The Steelers had their base personnel on the field. Defensive coordinator Keith Butler even decided to send 6-foot-6, 350-pound nose tackle Daniel McCullers into the game in place of starting nose tackle Javon Hargrave.
It did not matter. Hunt took a handoff from Mahomes and easily got through the first wave of Steelers defenders.
“It’s disappointing,” linebacker Vince Williams said. “You know what you have to do. You have to stop the run in that situation, and we gave up a big run.”
“It’s frustrating,” defensive end Stephon Tuitt added. “Everything happened so fast. I have to go back and look at it.”
Everything seemed to happen too fast for the Steelers defense. They talked all offseason about cleaning up their communication and tackling issues, and both problems reared their ugly heads again.
How far has the Steelers defense fallen?
The Steelers have given up 87 points in their past two games at Heinz Field.
For some perspective, the 1976 Steelers defense, regarded as the greatest in team history, gave up 69 points in seven home games.
The 2008 Steelers defense, the most recent team to lead the Steelers to a Super Bowl championship, gave up 109 points in eight home games.
This Steelers team is on pace to allow 336 points at Heinz Field.
“We didn’t kick enough ass,” team captain Cameron Heyward said. “It’s as simple as that. I’m not going to sit up here and sugarcoat it.”