Devin Bush had the worst season of his career in his third year for the Steelers. His problems spanned across his run defense, coverage and communication within the defense. But those stem from a common element, and one that must be addressed if Bush is to become the star linebacker the Steelers traded up to get in 2019.
When I studied Bush's problems in late November, my primary observation focused on his diminished play recognition from what he'd shown in his first two seasons with the Steelers. After all, his rookie season did feature 109 tackles that are still a rookie record for the franchise while also nabbing two interceptions, nine tackles for loss, recovering four fumbles, two pass breakups, a forced fumble and a sack.
That came from Bush's 4.42 40-yard dash speed being put to work in the Steelers' defense as the centerpiece to play sideline-to-sideline against the run and help in coverage over the middle.
With very few exceptions, that wasn't the profile on Bush's 2021 season as he had only 70 tackles, two of which for losses, four pass breakups and zero interceptions with one forced fumble and one recovered fumble. When I was noting Bush's problems earlier this season, I wanted to know if his struggles were legitimately just mental, or if he truly was physically limited after his injury and couldn't perform the duties that made him a prized NFL Draft prospect just a few years ago.
About a week and a half later, I got my answer.
Bush went on a three-week stretch that was his best of the season. Against the Vikings, Ravens and Titans, Bush put together 17 tackles, three pass breakups and Pro Football Focus credited him with seven run stuffs.
The problems Bush had against the run was how he wasn't attacking his assigned gaps and working to make plays in the hole. Not only was he not playing sideline-to-sideline, but he wasn't even playing guard-to-guard. Teams were blowing right past the Steelers' depth defensive linemen and burying Bush with interior offensive linemen.
After a while, all that burying led to a more hesitant and timid version of Bush. But for whatever reason, something clicked for him in the Steelers' Sunday night showdown with the Ravens on Dec. 5. Watch this tackle he made for no gain against Devonta Freeman when Bush had to work his way past the Ravens' line for a solid solo tackle:
Stopping the run was one thing, but the Steelers truly got Bush to combine run stopping with his ability to cover in space. That's where Bush's athleticism and instincts in coverage had to come into play.
Early on it looked like Bush's lack of play recognition wouldn't allow him to react properly during plays to use that speed and make plays in coverage. On the season, including the playoff game, Bush was targeted 63 times allowing 49 receptions for a completion percentage of 77.8, allowing 469 yards, two touchdowns, and registering four pass breakups with an interception.
Bush's interception isn't one that teaches much as he just stuck with a play that T.J. Watt created. Better examples were some breakups he made further downfield. Watch this breakup when he was 16 yards off the ball playing zone defense and pinching the middle of the field on a post pattern. He put himself in the right spot reading Kirk Cousins' eyes to tip the pass up that would eventually be intercepted by Ahkello Witherspoon:
That's the cover linebacker Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert knew they needed in the defense. After Ryan Shazier's career-ending injury in 2017, the Steelers never found that linebacker presence in the middle of the field who could play in the box but also cover receiving targets further downfield.
That lack of help in the middle of the Steelers' defense was crippling between the end of the 2017 season through 2018. With no help in the middle of the defense, the Steelers still managed to finish tenth in pass defense in 2018. Bush helped in that department, as did the addition of Minkah Fitzpatrick as the Steelers posted back-to-back seasons in 2019-2020 as the third-ranking pass defense in the NFL.
It looked like the Steelers were getting the version of Bush they needed in the pass game back in their December games. Watch how he sat into this zone assignment in the red zone against the Titans.
You can see he doesn't immediately jump over the eventual target as he has to help take away the passing lane for Julio Jones' post route going behind Titans tight end Geoff Swaim. After he does that, he settles in on Ryan Tannehill to jump on the pass to Swaim and almost intercepts it:
The drop stunk, but the fact he made the play was a very good sign for Bush. Too many plays early in the season he looked lost and uncertain how his zone assignment fit with opposing route concepts and he wouldn't be around the ball.
It seemed like his instincts both in the run defense and in coverage were returning at the right time for a Steelers defense that needed some sort of off-ball defensive playmaking presence to put the defense together.
But that faded after Bush was added to the Steelers' COVID-19 Reserve List after the Titans game and he missed two games against the Chiefs and Browns. Whatever progress and confidence he gained in what he was seeing looked like it dissipated when he returned against the Ravens.
It was less notable against Tyler Huntley, but against Patrick Mahomes and that Chiefs offense put on display the regression Bush had taken back to how he was playing before his game against the Vikings.
Watch how on this run by Jerrick McKinnon that Bush was unblocked in the middle of the field, and then took too long to decipher where the run was going. That allowed McKinnon the chance to bounce the run outside, and Bush was still too hesitant to even win that chase:
And that's one of the run plays he's expected to routinely make.
Consistently the Chiefs would either not get a body on Bush or if they did he was nowhere near aggressive enough in taking on the blocks to hold his role in gap integrity for the defense.
Those issues were compounded with him back to making mistakes in coverage as well. He went from properly understanding how his zone coverage assignments fit against various passing concepts in multiple games to not even knowing what his assignment was on a given play.
Watch this play when Bush lined up over the middle to fake a blitz and was supposed to drop back into an intermediate zone that would've been right in the way of Demarcus Robinson's shallow cross. But instead, Bush thinks the play is man coverage and chases McKinnon out of the backfield to the flat, where Cameron Sutton already is waiting for him, and leaves Robinson wide open:
You can tell Bush was the only person who got it wrong as the rest of the defense dropped into zone assignments. It's even easier to see if you just look at Sutton's frustration when he saw Bush come over to his zone and how he reacted.
The rollercoaster performances this season showed that Bush doesn't lack the athleticism even after his injury, nor does he lack the skill. He had a strong start of the season against the Bills with weeks of poor performances only to rise up later in the season for almost a month and then come crashing back down to the poor play that defined his 2021 season.
The problems come with him not trusting his instincts. Bush's best plays are when he's aggressive and either flying to the line of scrimmage against the run or back into coverage against the pass. But when he's hesitant, that's when he's at his weakest. Both dips in his play after the season opener and after the win over the Titans occurred after he missed games, breaking the chain of progress he created.
That tells me Bush's struggles are more about confidence in himself, what he can do and how he fits into the defense as a playmaker. When the instincts are there, he's on, and the Steelers want him on the field at all times.
But when his instincts aren't there, he's a liability. The Steelers need their primary inside linebacker to play like Fitzpatrick and be reliable enough to be at least close to 100 percent of the defensive snaps so that he can be a consistent factor in the team's defense. But Bush's lack of confidence in himself made him a liability.
He went from playing every single defensive snap of the 2020 season before getting injured to just playing 69 percent against the Ravens in the regular season finale and 51 percent against the Chiefs in the playoffs. And it wasn't like the Steelers had some young upstart to replace him with, as Robert Spillane and Marcus Allen were getting victimized themselves over the middle too.
Whatever Bush's mental block is that keeps him from being the player he's shown he could be for the Steelers is going to play a huge factor in how this team builds moving forward. Entering his fourth season, the Steelers have to decide soon whether he will get a fifth-year option or if 2022 will be the final year of his rookie contract.
That'll be a gamble either way they choose, as paying him the option would be costly, but give the Steelers another year to evaluate before having to commit to him with a full contract over several years. But if 2022 proves to be a repeat performance of 2021, that money locked into 2023 could prove costly to a Steelers team that's rebuilding.
On the other hand, the Steelers could also be in a tough spot if they don't give Bush his fifth-year extension and he performs well or very well, as he would then have an open path to the free agent market and may become even more expensive to lock down.
What Tomlin, Colbert and company have to know before making that decision is if their fourth-year linebacker who will be just 24 years old next season has the confidence to get back to being a reliable contributor on defense and the glue between a dominant defensive line and a secondary featuring one of the best safeties in the NFL in Fitzpatrick.
But as Keith Butler said in an interview on 93.7 The Fan Monday, that'll all be up to Bush.
