By Ray Porter Jr. for Urban Media Today
PITTSBURGH, PA–The last time the Pittsburgh Steelers played on Christmas Day was in 2016 when it took a miraculous play to beat the Baltimore Ravens 31-27 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium). QB Ben Roethlisberger’s pass to WR Antonio Brown gave the Steelers the winning points when he extended the ball over the goal line through two Raven defenders. The win gave the Steelers the AFC North Division Title.
The NFL returned to Pittsburgh on Christmas Day 2024 as the Steelers welcomed the defending champions Kansas City Chiefs for a 1PM match-up in front of the home crowd and a national audience on Netflix. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a Miracle at 100 Art Rooney Avenue as the Steelers fell hard to the Chiefs, 29-10.
“You know, that sucked, to be blunt,” commented Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin. “Not the type of ball we want to play, and really kind of eerily similar to our last performance in that we’re not doing the fundamental things well enough.”
It was another game in which the Steelers’ offense was unable to start as fast and as efficient as they wanted to as they ended up punting the ball on their first 2 drives. Meanwhile QB Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs took advantage of the Steelers’ struggles and turned it into a 13-0 lead. The Chiefs QB found WR Xavier Worthy and TE Justin Watson for touchdowns. Meanwhile, Steelers QB Russell Wilson tried their best to respond with a score on the ensuing drive as he found WR George Pickens for a 41-yard reception and then key runs by RB Jaylen Warren. But after a penalty wiped out a Warren touchdown, the Steelers’ drive ended as Wilson’s pass was intercepted by KC S Justin Reid.
“We’re turning the ball over. We’re not getting turnovers. That hasn’t been a recipe for us, but it has been of late,” Tomlin said. “Minus two or whatever we were in this game, you’re not giving yourself a chance, particularly turning the ball over in the red zone.”
The Steelers were finally able to get into the end zone as Wilson scored on a 1-yard TD run. The defense then showed signs of improvement as they forced KC to punt on two drives before the half and only trailed KC 13-7.
But once the 3rd quarter hit, it didn’t last long. KC extended their lead with a FG by K Harrison Butker, and just when it seemed like Wilson (23/37, 205 yards, INT) and the Steelers would get back into the end zone, they ended up settling for a FG by Chris Boswell, which only closed KC lead to 16-10. Then Mahomes (29/38, 320 yards, 3TDs) and the Chiefs got back into the end zone two more times on a 2-yard run by RB Kareem Hunt and a Mahomes 12-yard TD pass to a wide-open TE Travis Kelce.
“You know, some of the instances that (Kelce) was open, we were in zone defense, and you give credit to them and Mahomes in terms of diagonals and coverages,” said Tomlin. “We were spinning the dial. We were playing some man, we were playing some zone, we were pressuring some, and most of the instances that he caught the ball, which is their norm, he is a zone killer. When in zone, he gets the ball, in a lot of those instances we were in zone.”
If there were any positives for the Steelers, it was that they improved in the running game by rushing for 202 yards (74 by RB Warren, 71 by RB Najee Harris, 55 by Wilson) but they were still only able to generate 10 points.
“We’ve got to score more than 10 points against an outfit like that. So, you can look at it from a lot of angles,” said Tomlin. “The bottom line is junior varsity is not good enough. We’ve got to own that.”
The Steelers continued to struggle with the offensive line, which didn’t protect Wilson, leading to 5 sacks, failure to sack Mahomes, and gave up 389 total yards.
With then win, KC (15-1) clinched the #1 Seed in the AFC, giving them the First-Round Bye. The loss has not only dropped the Steelers record to 10-6, but it has also dropped them out of first place in the AFC North after the Baltimore Ravens (11-5) defeated the Houston Texans 31-2.
The Steelers still have a chance to win the AFC North if they beat the Cincinnati Bengals (7-8) and the Ravens lose to the 3-12 Cleveland Browns during the NFL’s final weekend, but Tomlin knows that they need to make needed adjustments if such things are going to happen.
“We’re not going to continue to do the same things and hope for a different result. That doesn’t seem sharp to me,” Tomlin remarked. “So, we’re going to take a hard look at this. We’ve got a couple extra days before we get back into it. We’re going to take a look at it and make whatever necessary changes we need to make in the totality of this thing, because again, that doesn’t feel good. It doesn’t look good. That’s just the truth and reality of it.”
Notes: Steelers DT Cam Heyward was the only significant injury, as he injured his ankle, but he was able to finish the game. “Don’t have a lot of information about any other potential injuries. We’ll probably have more the next time we get together,” Tomlin reported.
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