DK: Still ‘same story,’ no direction for these Steelers
"The part that feels the worst was ... man, we were right there."
That's what Jonnu Smith was telling me, towel over his head, still seated at his stall well after the Steelers had fallen a few yards and a field goal shy of the Bears, 31-28, today at Soldier Field. "With everything else that happened, we were right there."
Yeah, they were right there.
Until they weren't:
DKPS
And hey, that's even worse than it appears, since the Steelers not only dropped behind the Ravens after their archrival had started out 1-5, but also dropped to eighth in the AFC, one spot out of the playoff picture.
No big deal, though. Three of the next four games are against the Bills, Ravens and Lions, the latter two in Baltimore and Detroit.
Yeah.
“That was a hard-fought game," Mike Tomlin would say upon stepping to the podium afterward. "Like I just told the team, it's tight when it's good on good, particularly when you're in a hostile environment. Any number of plays could have changed the outcome of the game, and that's why we've just got to live every down singularly in all three phases knowing that. And I think today was a very good illustration of that."
Oh, it was an illustration, all right. But good on good?
The Bears are now 8-3, so they're inarguably good. Whereas these Steelers are good, then bad, then good again, then bad again ... often seconds apart within the same setting.
They'll take the ball away ...
... but they'll give it away almost as easily, and, most maddening, they'll do it with long-distance interceptions in an offense that doesn't need to be doing long-distance anything, much less a yard away from moving the sticks:
"Just trying to get DK Metcalf a 50/50 shot there to start the game," Rudolph would say. "I'll do that every time I get the opportunity because he's such a great player and comes down with a lot of those."
He doesn't, actually. Metcalf's done some fun stuff so far, but high-pointing, combat-catching excellence hasn't been front and center.
They'll do something smart schematically, like following up a failed tush-push with this wizardry by Kenny Gainwell, part of 186 rushing yards between him and Jaylen Warren ...
... but they'll leave the stinking middle of the field open for a Chicago touchdown that saw the Bears run a four-verticals concept in which four wide receivers are sent out to take down the Steelers' three deep defenders with a call that a JV assistant coach could've concocted:
Middle. Middle. Middle. Again. Again. Again. From East Rutherford onward, with no answers.
“I thought they just did a nice job," Tomlin would speak to that touchdown from Caleb Williams to DJ Moore. "You have to give those guys credit."
No, I don't. Stopped doing that about a decade ago when Tom Brady blew it to bits.
“Over the middle," Watt would more properly bemoan. "We weren't able to get pressure. He was able to get the ball clean and effectively to his receivers. A lot of second-and-longs that I can remember that turned into either third-and-shorts and were converted or converted from second-and-long. So, same story. Have to get off the field.”
Same story, indeed.
They'll look sharp, meticulous, even disciplined in engineering touchdown drives of 13 plays for 95 yards and 17 plays for 72 yards, the latter capped by this bullet from Rudolph to Pat Freiermuth in the fourth quarter when it was needed most ...
... but they'll commit some of the dumbest damned penalties, and the six total flags for 41 yards don't do justice to the damage done by yet another of those illegal-formation infractions that negated a 22-yard Rudolph sprint to midfield that would've done wonders toward a tying field goal on the Steelers' penultimate possession.
Aaron Rodgers' reaction from the sideline upon spotting what was amiss before the snap:
Calvin Austin probably was the guilty party, but it also might've been Gainwell. Coincidence or not, when I approached Austin to ask about it, he declined to be interviewed, insisting he had "nothing positive" to share.
And all that's to say nothing of the very end, which bugged me as much as anything.
Rudolph again got the offense back to midfield on the final possession, out to the Chicago 49. But on third-and-8 with 39 seconds left and no timeouts, Rudolph threw the called play, a 2-yard dot to Metcalf that didn't stop the clock. And on fourth down with 26 seconds left, he tried again for Metcalf but had the ball batted down.
Ballgame.
But did it have to be?
Chris Boswell was booting the ball through the uprights in warmups from 55 yards out -- same direction, no wind all day -- and they were landing several yards further than needed. He's capable. He's already converted from 60, that in the opener. And this, depending on Corliss Waitman's location as holder, would've been from 65 or 66.
Long shot?
Absolutely, but maybe not as long a shot as whatever the offense was attempting with those two-yard, between-the-hash dinks.
Tomlin was asked if he'd have tried Boswell if he'd still had a timeout, and Tomlin snapped, “I’m not into the hypothetical world.”
I don't see anything in the above scenario that required a timeout.
Whatever.
I just don't want to hear about either of the quarterbacks. Not in this context. Not when Rudolph was … OK in completing 24 of 31 passes for 171 yards, a touchdown and a pick. Not when Rodgers hadn’t been even that efficient before getting hurt.
“I thought he was game,” Tomlin would say of Rudolph. “He always is. He made plays for us, particularly in the fourth quarter. But as a collective, him included, we didn't do enough to win.”
Nope.
Maybe Rodgers will next Sunday. Maybe he won’t. Maybe they just are what they are. All of them. Or maybe they're just this back-and-forth, up-and-down mish-mash of middle-of-the-pack mediocrity they've been to date.
Either way ...
“The margin for error is slim," Watt would say. "It's the National Football League. We have a lot of things to fix quickly. And we need to be playing our best football at this stretch of the season. And we need to get better and get better quick.”
THE ASYLUM
DK: Still ‘same story,’ no direction for these Steelers
"The part that feels the worst was ... man, we were right there."
That's what Jonnu Smith was telling me, towel over his head, still seated at his stall well after the Steelers had fallen a few yards and a field goal shy of the Bears, 31-28, today at Soldier Field. "With everything else that happened, we were right there."
Yeah, they were right there.
Until they weren't:
DKPS
And hey, that's even worse than it appears, since the Steelers not only dropped behind the Ravens after their archrival had started out 1-5, but also dropped to eighth in the AFC, one spot out of the playoff picture.
No big deal, though. Three of the next four games are against the Bills, Ravens and Lions, the latter two in Baltimore and Detroit.
Yeah.
“That was a hard-fought game," Mike Tomlin would say upon stepping to the podium afterward. "Like I just told the team, it's tight when it's good on good, particularly when you're in a hostile environment. Any number of plays could have changed the outcome of the game, and that's why we've just got to live every down singularly in all three phases knowing that. And I think today was a very good illustration of that."
Oh, it was an illustration, all right. But good on good?
The Bears are now 8-3, so they're inarguably good. Whereas these Steelers are good, then bad, then good again, then bad again ... often seconds apart within the same setting.
They'll take the ball away ...
... but they'll give it away almost as easily, and, most maddening, they'll do it with long-distance interceptions in an offense that doesn't need to be doing long-distance anything, much less a yard away from moving the sticks:
"Just trying to get DK Metcalf a 50/50 shot there to start the game," Rudolph would say. "I'll do that every time I get the opportunity because he's such a great player and comes down with a lot of those."
He doesn't, actually. Metcalf's done some fun stuff so far, but high-pointing, combat-catching excellence hasn't been front and center.
They'll do something smart schematically, like following up a failed tush-push with this wizardry by Kenny Gainwell, part of 186 rushing yards between him and Jaylen Warren ...
... but they'll leave the stinking middle of the field open for a Chicago touchdown that saw the Bears run a four-verticals concept in which four wide receivers are sent out to take down the Steelers' three deep defenders with a call that a JV assistant coach could've concocted:
Middle. Middle. Middle. Again. Again. Again. From East Rutherford onward, with no answers.
“I thought they just did a nice job," Tomlin would speak to that touchdown from Caleb Williams to DJ Moore. "You have to give those guys credit."
No, I don't. Stopped doing that about a decade ago when Tom Brady blew it to bits.
“Over the middle," Watt would more properly bemoan. "We weren't able to get pressure. He was able to get the ball clean and effectively to his receivers. A lot of second-and-longs that I can remember that turned into either third-and-shorts and were converted or converted from second-and-long. So, same story. Have to get off the field.”
Same story, indeed.
They'll look sharp, meticulous, even disciplined in engineering touchdown drives of 13 plays for 95 yards and 17 plays for 72 yards, the latter capped by this bullet from Rudolph to Pat Freiermuth in the fourth quarter when it was needed most ...
... but they'll commit some of the dumbest damned penalties, and the six total flags for 41 yards don't do justice to the damage done by yet another of those illegal-formation infractions that negated a 22-yard Rudolph sprint to midfield that would've done wonders toward a tying field goal on the Steelers' penultimate possession.
Aaron Rodgers' reaction from the sideline upon spotting what was amiss before the snap:
Calvin Austin probably was the guilty party, but it also might've been Gainwell. Coincidence or not, when I approached Austin to ask about it, he declined to be interviewed, insisting he had "nothing positive" to share.
And all that's to say nothing of the very end, which bugged me as much as anything.
Rudolph again got the offense back to midfield on the final possession, out to the Chicago 49. But on third-and-8 with 39 seconds left and no timeouts, Rudolph threw the called play, a 2-yard dot to Metcalf that didn't stop the clock. And on fourth down with 26 seconds left, he tried again for Metcalf but had the ball batted down.
Ballgame.
But did it have to be?
Chris Boswell was booting the ball through the uprights in warmups from 55 yards out -- same direction, no wind all day -- and they were landing several yards further than needed. He's capable. He's already converted from 60, that in the opener. And this, depending on Corliss Waitman's location as holder, would've been from 65 or 66.
Long shot?
Absolutely, but maybe not as long a shot as whatever the offense was attempting with those two-yard, between-the-hash dinks.
Tomlin was asked if he'd have tried Boswell if he'd still had a timeout, and Tomlin snapped, “I’m not into the hypothetical world.”
I don't see anything in the above scenario that required a timeout.
Whatever.
I just don't want to hear about either of the quarterbacks. Not in this context. Not when Rudolph was … OK in completing 24 of 31 passes for 171 yards, a touchdown and a pick. Not when Rodgers hadn’t been even that efficient before getting hurt.
“I thought he was game,” Tomlin would say of Rudolph. “He always is. He made plays for us, particularly in the fourth quarter. But as a collective, him included, we didn't do enough to win.”
Nope.
Maybe Rodgers will next Sunday. Maybe he won’t. Maybe they just are what they are. All of them. Or maybe they're just this back-and-forth, up-and-down mish-mash of middle-of-the-pack mediocrity they've been to date.
Either way ...
“The margin for error is slim," Watt would say. "It's the National Football League. We have a lot of things to fix quickly. And we need to be playing our best football at this stretch of the season. And we need to get better and get better quick.”
Or maybe this is it.
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