The Pittsburgh Steelers Wild Card playoff matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs was not the sending-off party the franchise had envisioned at the end of Ben Roethlisberger's career. Despite a surprise scoreless first quarter, the Chiefs still managed to overwhelm the Steelers' defense throughout the next three quarters. The Steelers-Chiefs matchup saw Pittsburgh get completely outmatched on Sunday night, in all facets of the game. With that in mind, here are some Steelers Wild Card playoff takeaways from their brutal loss to the Chiefs.

The Steelers' stagnant start on offense is largely to blame for their shortcomings on Sunday. While not many (even Roethlisberger) expected the Steelers to have a chance, they did manage to grab a lead early, courtesy of a T.J. Watt scoop and score. Despite that, the offense was remarkably unproductive in the first half, and when they finally did get things going, it was far too late for redemption.

It's not as if the Steelers' defense was much better. After a strong first quarter, the flood gates opened wide, and the Steelers allowed the Chiefs to pour on 42 points in just three quarters. Patrick Mahomes had his way with the Steelers' secondary, and Jerick McKinnon, who was just added to the roster a few weeks ago, gave Pittsburgh's defense headaches all game long.

So, without further ado, here are our Steelers Wild Card playoff takeaways from their loss to the Chiefs, and the (likely) end of Ben Roethlisberger's NFL career.

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Pittsburgh Steelers Wild Card Takeaways

3. Offensive line needs a serious overhaul

The Steelers offense looked dismal on Sunday, failing to connect on many big plays and overall struggling to get anything going. The run game was practically non-existent for Pittsburgh, and they failed to accomplish much via the air either. The main problem on the offense won't be found at the skill positions, however. Pittsburgh's offensive line is one of the weakest groups in the league, constantly forcing Roethlisberger to get the ball out of his hands quickly.

Roethlisberger was the quickest release in the NFL during the regular season, as the lack of trust in his offensive line requires him to find his targets and get a pass off hastily. Najee Harris had a brutal outing, unable to find any holes in the defense en route to just 29 yards on 12 carries. Starting two rookies in the front five is always going to be a risk, but even the veteran members of the Steelers' line have struggled this year, with guys like Trai Turner and Joe Haeg failing to provide suitable protection for Roethlisberger or the running backs.

2. Big Ben did not have a fairytale ending

All eyes were on Ben Roethlisberger in the Steelers Wild Card matchup, but perhaps he's wishing they weren't. In what was very likely the final game of his NFL career, Roethlisberger had a pretty disastrous outing. His final numbers were massively boosted by garbage time stats and the team failed to get anything going until the Chiefs' defense eased up with the result of the game already a foregone conclusion. On the night, Roethlisberger threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns, completing 29-of-44 pass attempts. Virtually all of those numbers came in the second half, at which point the Steelers had no shot at mounting a comeback.

While the offensive line needs to shoulder a significant amount of the responsibility for the offensive woes, Roethlisberger proved in the second half that there was some element of life on Pittsburgh's offense. Why they were unable, or unwilling, to take chances in the first half remains unclear, but they did find some success when adopting a riskier approach in the second half. At the end of the day, Roethlisberger didn't get a fairytale ending, but his status as an NFL legend remains in tact.

1. Next quarterback will have plenty of weapons on offense

Whoever does end up replacing Big Ben under center in Pittsburgh won't be walking into a terrible situation. While the offensive line obviously needs to be buffed up, the Steelers have a plethora of talent at skill positions. Diontae Johnson (despite his key drops on Sunday) is coming off a career year and JuJu Smith-Schuster, should he re-sign with the team, will be back after missing most of the 2021 season. Additionally, Chase Claypool has shown flashes of greatness, although he's certainly faced his share of criticism, and rookie running back Najee Harris turned in an excellent season that saw him record 1,200 rushing yards. There is an abundance of young talent on Pittsburgh's offense, but until they fix the offensive line, these players won't be able to reach their full potential.