Steelers see season end with fifth straight loss

BALTIMORE -- Safety DeShon Elliott didn't mince words aft the Pittsburgh Steelers' 28-14 AFC chaotic paper loss Saturday night.

Despite only being pinch the statement for a season, Elliott was clear successful his vexation pinch the Steelers' rhythm of futility: a regular-season grounds supra .500 followed by a one-and-done playoff stint.

"I cognize that successful the past we've played good successful the opening of the season, and past we conscionable s--- the furniture astatine the end, and aforesaid s--- happened this year," Elliott said aft the Steelers' sixth playoff nonaccomplishment successful 8 seasons. "Closed the play retired connected 5 crippled losing streak including the playoffs. So we sewage to fig retired what's the problem. We sewage to fig retired really to get better. We sewage to fig retired really to get past that point. We sewage to fig retired really to decorativeness beardown successful seasons to spell into the playoffs."

The routes taken by the Steelers to get to this constituent person been different each year, but the destination is the same. In their 2 astir caller playoff appearances anterior to the 2024 season, the Steelers rallied from slow starts to clinch a playoff berth successful the past week of the season. In 2020, they started retired 11-0 earlier losing 4 of their last five. And successful 2017, they won the AFC North and hosted the Jacksonville Jaguars aft a first-round bye. Yet each of those appearances ended the aforesaid measurement arsenic the Steelers' play concluded Saturday nighttime successful Baltimore: a nonaccomplishment successful their lone playoff game.

"I'm conscionable assessing what transpired tonight," coach Mike Tomlin said erstwhile asked astir their shape of one-and-dones successful the playoffs. "As I told you guys earlier successful the week, those are my bags, not this collective's bags. And truthful my power is connected that group successful location and what they were consenting to springiness and the travel that we've been connected this twelvemonth and surely it came to a disappointing extremity tonight."

Saturday nighttime was a rerun of the aforesaid nightmare that's played retired successful each of those postseason losses, too. The Steelers fell successful a large spread early and trailed 21-0 astatine halftime, marking their second-largest halftime playoff shortage down the 25-point spread to the Browns successful 2020.

"Losing sucks," said separator rusher T.J. Watt who didn't grounds a tackle aliases sack and had 5 backmost pressures. "Losing 5 successful a statement to decorativeness the play retired sucks. Felt for illustration we had a bully week of prep. Felt for illustration we were fresh for this one. We weren't. We weren't capable to extremity the run. Haven't been capable to extremity the run. We weren't capable to get it fixed. So it's been unsmooth past period of football."

Dating backmost to the 2016 AFC Championship nonaccomplishment to the New England Patriots, the Steelers person been outscored by a mixed 96 points and outgained by 641 yards successful their past six playoff losses. "It's reliable successful a game, but can't whine astir it," said Cam Heyward, who's been connected the squad for each of the past six playoff losses. "They're going to make plays, but we person to make our ain plays, and we did not do that."

The Ravens made those plays from their opening possession erstwhile MVP campaigner Lamar Jackson and moving backmost Derrick Henry mixed for 71 rushing yards connected a thrust that ended pinch a 15-yard Rashod Bateman touchdown snag. The Ravens had moreover much occurrence moving the shot connected their 2nd scoring thrust erstwhile they exclusively rushed the shot the full 98-yard bid and vanished successful the extremity area pinch an eight-yard Henry run. By the extremity of the night, the Ravens put up 299 rushing yards connected a once-stout Steelers tally defense.

"Having 300 yards rushing connected you is worse than having 300 yards passing," Elliott said. "It was for illustration a will. They decidedly put loop to butt today."

As has been the lawsuit done the Steelers' four-game losing streak to extremity the regular season, the defense struggled to verbalize precisely what needed to change, not only successful Saturday night's loss, but besides successful season-ending descent and the caller agelong of playoff losses.

"It's excessively fresh," Watt said. "I don't know. I don't person the answers. Clearly. If I had the answers, I would've done thing otherwise this week. I felt for illustration we had a bully week, bully week of prep. Felt for illustration we had a comparatively patient group of guys, particularly defensively, put the pads on. I felt for illustration we had beingness believe week and didn't correlate."

Watt later added: "if I had the answer, we wouldn't beryllium present correct now. I'm going to person to return a look successful the reflector and person immoderate conversations, but I don't person the answers."

Though they couldn't put a digit connected the basal fixes, the problem, players who said aft the crippled said unanimously, isn't Tomlin.

"I don't interest astir Mike's message," Heyward said. "I interest astir our method and our execution. That's what I'm really worried about. I conscionable wish we had played a batch better. It's not a connection thing, it's not that's groundbreaking, but location was opportunities to beryllium had, and we didn't prehend anything."