Anyone who has been a Steelers fan for a significant amount of time could see last night’s result coming from a mile away.
After an 8-2 start to the season, it felt like the team was finally going to make a return to the level they were at during the Ben Roethlisberger era. As the snow began to fall on the shore of Lake Erie, however, it became clear that the Steelers are still a long way from the peaks of times past.
Last night was a trap game, plain and simple. As a Steeler fan, I’ve become used to them over the years, but last night’s loss feels different than those in the past. For weeks, last night had been circled on the schedule. A Thursday night road game against the 2-8 Cleveland Browns had every ingredient needed to become the epitome of a trap game. Fans and the media alike knew it was coming, but it seemed as if Mike Tomlin and the Steelers did not.
The bad feeling first started to creep into my mind days before the game. The Steelers beat the hated Balitmore Ravens and the Browns were humilated in New Orleans by the Saints.
Then in the game, I watched Chris Boswell trot out onto the field for a 58-yard field goal on the game’s first drive. While Boswell is one of the league’s great kickers, his career long is 59 yards. Asking him to essentially match that feat in freezing and windy weather is a decision that was unlikely to end well.
Needless to say, Boswell ended up missing his second field goal of the year. While Cleveland didn’t capitalize on the prime field position that the Steelers placed in their lap, the miss started the evening off with a bad omen. It’s easy to say that Boswell’s missed kick didn’t matter, being so early in the game, but starting off with a missed field goal rather than a punt to pin Cleveland deep in their own territory took the wind out of the Steelers early in the game.
After a dull first half, the Browns got the ball to start the second. The Steelers finally got the splash play that they needed when Deshon Elliott laid a textbook hit on a Browns receiver, popping the ball free to be recovered by Donte Jackson. Surely, the Steelers would capitalize on the Browns’ gift to them, right? Nope. Russell Wilson and the rest of the offense punched back with a fierce 6-play drive that ended with a turnover on downs.
The offense bounced back and turned it on after that drive, with a short scamper into the end zone by Jaylen Warren followed by a beautiful touchdown throw to Calvin Austin.
Then, the collapse started. After Austin’s touchdown, offensive coordinator Arthur Smith called on his old friend Cordarrelle Patterson, having Russell Wilson throw the ball up to him on a goal-line fade.
Why as an offensive coordinator, when you have jump-ball specialists like George Pickens and Mike Williams, would decide to throw to running back Cordarrelle Patterson on a crucial two point conversion? Ignoring two of the league’s best catchers of contested throws, only to throw it to a running back on the goal line, makes absolutely no sense.
With two minutes to play, Jameis Winston dropped back to pass on third down, felt pressure, and threw the ball to his lineman. Rather than declining the illegal touching penalty and giving the Browns a fourth and short situation where they were likely to kick a field goal, Tomlin accepted, instead setting up a third and medium. The Steelers gave up the first down, then gave up a rushing touchdown to Nick Chubb, handing Cleveland the lead with less than a minute to play.
Wilson tried his best to work some magic at the end, but it was simply too late. As his Hail Mary ball fell harmlessly to the grass, it was official: the Steelers had fallen victim to yet another trap game.
It certainly isn’t the end of the road for the Steelers. After all, 8-3 still has them top of the AFC North. It will not, however, get any easier than a 2-8 Browns team this year. The Steelers will face the Eagles, Ravens, and Chiefs in the coming weeks. Losing to the Browns puts even more pressure on the team to win those harder games.
In a pregame interview, Jameis Winston described the Browns, in signature Winston fashion, with the line “The horse is prepared for battle.” By the end of the game, it was clear that the Browns were ready for war on a snowy Thursday night in Cleveland, and the Steelers, for whatever reason, weren’t up to the task.
