Staggering Steelers Try To Regain Momentum In Playoffs Against Ravens

The Pittsburgh Steelers say they aren’t looking back. That’s probably a good thing.

The Steelers are staggering into the postseason on a four-game losing streak. The skid cost the Steelers (10-7) the AFC North title as they finished second in the division behind the Baltimore Ravens (11-6).

The rivals will meet Saturday night in an AFC Wild Card game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The Steelers are looking for what seems to be an implausible turnaround against a team they lost to 34-17 on Dec. 21 at the same venue.

“We’re going to have to go on the road and get it done,” Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson said this past Saturday night when the Steelers fell to the visiting Cincinnati Bengals 19-17 in the regular-season finale at Acrisure Stadium. “That’s really the only thing that matters right now is us being able to adjust and think about that and be prepared for that. Really, it’s one-and-done type mentality. You got to go get it and find a way to win the next game.”

The Steelers haven’t found a way to win a game in nearly a month since beating the hapless Cleveland Browns 27-14 on Dec. 8. Since then, the Steelers have lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs and Bengals.

The losing streak has all been destroyed what was shaping up to be a potentially special season. The Steelers’ record was 10-3 after the win over the Browns and there was talk of the franchise reaching the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2010 season.

However, coach Mike Tomlin says there is nothing the Steelers can do now but look ahead to finding a way to upset the Ravens. That will be a tall task, and history is not on the Steelers’ side as their last playoff victory was in 2016.

“For us, it’s not about being in the tournament,” Tomlin said Monday during his weekly news conference. “It’s not about dreaming about the next month. It’s not about pouting over the last month. It’s about this week for us. We’re playing someone that we’re highly familiar with. They’re also highly familiar with us.”

The Steelers did beat the Ravens 18-16 at home on Nov. 17 to improve to 10-2. However, the Steelers did not score a touchdown, and all their points came on six field goals by Chris Boswell.

The Steelers are a different team now. And not in a good way.

“Unfortunately, you probably learn more when there’s failure, and obviously we’ve experienced some of that,” Tomlin said. “Some of it not jaw-dropping things, or earth-shadowing things, more confirmation of things that we believe in, or things that we engineer victory by.

“We suffer the consequences of not winning the turnover battle in recent weeks, and that’s been very evident. We’ve also suffered the consequences of not performing to our standards in the red zone, offensively and defensively, and oftentimes your ability to win possession downs within those situations define you that four-point swing during that four-game stretch.”

Yet the Steelers have needed more than a four-point swing in three of the four games during their losing streak. Before the two-point defeat to the Bengals, the Steelers lost by 14 to the Eagles, 17 to the Ravens and 19 to the Chiefs.

A killer during the skein has been slow starts on offense. The Steelers have just three points and two first down in the first quarter of those games.

“Some of it has had to do with some of the people that we played have done a nice job,” Tomlin said. “Some of it has to do with us. Rest assured that we’re working extremely hard to rectify it, and I’m excited about taking another whack at it this week.”