Steelers Now
As the old saying goes, “the more things change, the more they stay the same” for the Pittsburgh Steelers. At least in their latest postseason defeat, the score was competitive into the second half, although that had more to do with the Houston Texans dropping the ball—literally and figuratively. Collectively, Mike Tomlin’s teams now own the longest playoff losing streak in franchise history, and the future of the franchise remains cloudy at best.
What’s next? We’ll have to wait and see. First, let’s take a look at some winners and losers from the Wild Card round before diving into offseason discourse.
Despite the loss, there was one star that shone brightest under the lights. Porter was exceptional tonight while being tasked with the tough responsibility of tailing Nico Collins all over the field. The Penn State product was ready for the challenge, playing physically and weaponizing his wingspan at the catch point to force multiple incompletions on the in-breaking routes that the Texans’ passing game is built on. The timing couldn’t be better for him either, despite not receiving votes for the NFL’s All-Pro team. This signature shutdown performance will only add to his growing value in contract extension talks this spring.
The drastic difference in execution on money downs was the primary difference in the game, with the Steelers finishing 2-14, while the Texans went 10-15. Both teams ran the ball extremely well on early downs, but only one of them was able to move the sticks consistently. C.J. Stroud’s carelessness with the football was the only reason this game remained close into the second half, but he did make a couple of hero throws on third and long that Rodgers simply didn’t. In the end, the lack of a vertical passing game and the inability to prevent explosive plays ended their season.
The rookie didn’t play all that much in this one but made one of the biggest plays of the night with his strip sack on the flea flicker. Sawyer is no stranger to big games. Just 12 months ago, he had a forced fumble turned touchdown that helped Ohio State advance to the National Title game. His motor has been a strength all season, and that’s led to some timely takeaways. He heads into 2026 as a core special teamer and useful depth piece.
Echols has been a solid depth piece for the Steelers all season but was abused in coverage starting with the first series of the game. Pittsburgh’s game plan was pretty straightforward—they wanted to play man coverage and try to heat Stroud up with interior blitzes. But veteran Christian Kirk went bananas en route to a career-high 144 yards and the first touchdown of the game. He was able to stack Echols on deep routes that converted multiple third and long situations, totalling a whopping 13.5 receiving EPA on the day. Certain...
