Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers will be once again at home for the Super Bowl after their eighth consecutive season without postseason progress. While the season ended in the postseason, the Steelers’ defense very noticeably faltered alongside their offense at the end of the year. Teryl Austin oversaw the defense as its coordinator for the third season.
When Austin was promoted in 2022, the Steelers had come off a 2021 season where, despite T.J. Watt winning defensive player of the year, they ranked last in the league against the run. Austin’s job was simple: rebuild this defense starting up front.
Despite losing Watt for a chunk of the 2022 season, the Steelers finished 9-8 and followed up in 2023 going 10-7 with a postseason appearance. The Steelers showed promise in 2023 with Joey Porter Jr., Nick Herbig, and Keeanu Benton proving to be staples in the defense.
2024’s expectations soared as the defense shut down three talented offenses in a row to begin the year. Despite losses against the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys, the defense bounced back by holding their next three opponents under 20 points in each game.
Unfortunately, the second half of the season proved to be more than they could handle as the team finished 4-5, limping their way into the postseason.
The end of the 2024 season left a sour taste in the Steelers’ mouths. As you will see, the season really was a tale of two seasons.
First, here is a quick snapshot of where the Steelers finished their season in defensive production.
Similar to the Steelers’ offense, at first glance, things appear to be a job well done overall. A top-10 scoring and rushing defense feels like a formula for success. Unfortunately, it doesn’t tell the full picture.
For starters, in the first eight games of the season, the Steelers allowed an average of 14.88 points per game. Of those eight opponents, only two made the postseason – who they held to 16 total points. Give the Steelers defense props where it is due: they simply handled business, mostly, as they should have.
As it would come to show, however, the Steelers defense may not have been completely up to the task the final nine games of the season. In those final nine games, the Steelers would allow an average of 25.33 points per game.
Additionally, when you dig into the advanced analytics, the Steelers simply fell apart down the stretch.
The numbers speak for themselves. These are monumental levels of collapse–in all categories. Similarly to the offense, the defense collapsed down the stretch.
It will be asked: what led to this collapse? On one hand, the Steelers final nine games were against six opponents total–four of which made the postseason with two in the Super Bowl. On the other hand, the analytics insinuate the Steelers are not contenders on either side of the ball.
Is it schematics? Is it talent?
A couple of indicators could show where many fans lean: schematics.
First, in T.J....
