Things were looking up for the Pittsburgh Steelers after their thrilling overtime victory in Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals. But three straight losses can change the outlook of a team real quick. The Steelers most recent loss at the hands of the New York Jets in Week 4 has painted a rather bleak outlook for the rest of Pittsburgh's season.
The Jets managed to pull off a 10-point comeback with less than eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, ensuring the Steelers would be wondering where things went wrong for them in this one. Pittsburgh's defense has been their strongest unit so far this season, but when their team needed them most, they faltered.
Still, they didn't get a lot of help from their offense, and it's no surprise to see that the two players most responsible for this loss are on the offensive side of the ball. With that in mind, let's take a look at the three players most responsible for the Steelers third straight loss and see why their struggles played such a big role in this loss.
3. Cameron Sutton
Cameron Sutton and Levi Wallace had to step up with Ahkello Witherspoon missing this game, and for the most part, they did an OK job. It's clear though that the secondary didn't have their best day, and allowed Zach Wilson to pull off a big comeback in his first game of the season.
Sutton finished with just one tackle, a pass deflected, and a big interception right before halftime. While Sutton made a good play on his interception, it was more due to a poor throw from Wilson. The problem with Sutton is that he spent most of his day on Corey Davis, who had the best day (5 REC, 73 YDS, 1 TD) out of the Jets pass catchers.
The worst play of the day for Sutton came on Davis' touchdown, where he got caught up in a pick, leaving Davis wide open for an easy score. If he holds up in coverage here, the Jets probably settle for a field goal, and even if they score a touchdown on the next drive, this game would find its way to overtime. Sutton didn't have a horrible day, but he contributed to the defense's meltdown in the fourth quarter, earning him a spot on the list here.
2. Kenny Pickett
It's tough to include Kenny Pickett on this list, because the circumstances didn't really benefit him. Pickett was sent in to replace Mitchell Trubisky in the second half, and actually did a pretty decent job. He led the Steelers to 17 unanswered points on offense, and turned a 10-3 deficit into a 20-10 lead that the defense couldn't hold onto.
Pickett's overall numbers don't paint as nice of a picture. He completed 10 of his 13 passes, but the three incompletions were interceptions. Pickett scored both of the Steelers touchdowns on the ground himself, but those interceptions allowed the Jets to crawl back into this game.
It may have been more of a gameplan fault than Pickett's, but considering they had a ten-point lead in the fourth quarter, they probably should have just run the game out with Najee Harris rather than continuing to have Pickett throw. Pickett did a good job of bringing the Steelers back into this game, but their inability to win does fall on his shoulders in some sense.
1. Mitchell Trubisky
Of course, if Mitchell Trubisky could do anything under center himself, Pickett wouldn't have even played in this game. Trubisky once again had a woeful outing in the first half (7/13, 84 YDS, 1 INT) and was promptly benched by head coach Mike Tomlin to start the second half. Moving forward, it's clear the Steelers have a pretty big quarterback problem.
The hope was that Trubisky would be a serviceable holdover for Pickett this season, eventually allowing for him to be the starter down the line. But through three and a half games of action, Trubisky had been horrible. Despite all the talent Pittsburgh has on offense, Trubisky struggled to get much of anything going on offense to start the season, and it wasn't totally surprising to see Tomlin pull the plug on him in this one.
It's not as much what Trubisky did that lost the Steelers this game; it's what he didn't do. He's been so bad that Tomlin felt Pickett gave him a better shot of winning, and Pickett very nearly pulled it off. Trubisky shouldn't be putting Pickett, Tomlin, or the rest of his teammates in that spot. His failure to do so makes him most responsible for this loss, even if he didn't play a snap in the second half of the game.
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