The Pittsburgh Steelers saw themselves as Super Bowl contenders going into this season. So far, they haven’t been close to reaching that level. Sunday night at Acrisure Stadium proved that. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Steelers with relative ease, the 35-25 final score a little misleading. It was close in the first half, but in the second half, things got out of hand. The Steelers’ defense in particular has been disappointing. That unit’s struggles have left James Harrison very frustrated.
“What is happening?” Harrison said Monday on his Deebo and Joe podcast. “Pittsburgh Steelers are built on defense. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the defense be this bad. We can’t tackle nobody. We are freaking cooked. We’re the 30th-ranked defense in the NFL.
“We’re the highest-paid defense in the NFL. Those two things don’t go together. Primetime. Sunday night. What the fuck are we doing? Make that name on your back mean something. Make them three stars on your chest mean something.”
The Steelers allowed over 450 yards of total offense to the Packers. They didn’t force any turnovers or record any sacks. While the Packers’ offense didn’t really start to take over until the second half, that isn’t necessarily a credit to the Steelers’ defense. The Packers had a lot of self-inflicted wounds, like drops and penalties.
Harrison is also correct to point to the Steelers’ inability to tackle as a major problem. That issue goes back to the end of last season. While the Steelers made a lot of changes defensively this offseason, they’re still dealing with similar problems.
Because of that, Harrison thinks that it’s time for the Steelers’ defense to hit the reset button.
“Things gotta get changed. People gotta go. Highest paid, 30th ranked, don’t match. I don’t know what needs to happen, but we need to go on ahead and maybe redo this whole thing and get something else going,” he said. “We done gave up 30-something in the last four, five, six games. That is not Steeler defense. That is not Steeler football. Nothing about that correlates to the Black and Gold.”
It’s rare for the Steelers to make big changes in the middle of the season. However, more recently, they’ve been open to operating differently. It was only a few years ago when they fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada during the season. Perhaps the Steelers do something similar with defensive coordinator Teryl Austin.
That might not give the Steelers’ defense an instant boost, though. Installing a new defense in-season would probably only create more problems. Steelers defenders are already struggling to communicate as is.
What could the Steelers do, then? One solution could be to mix up their defensive personnel. The Steelers’ defense has talented players. Perhaps it just needs to find the right combination to utilize in the correct manner. However, with DeShon Elliott suffering a potentially major injury Sunday night, that might be more difficult for the Steelers to do.
Following the loss that dropped them to 4-3, multiple Steelers defenders spoke about how it felt like they had no fight against the Packers. If that’s true, then the team needs to change something. It’s only Week 8, and the Steelers are still on top of their division. How can they not have any fight if they have so much to play for?
We’ll see if this loss sparks the Steelers to do anything differently. Based on their history that seems unlikely. For better or worse, the Steelers tend to stick with their plan. The frustration of Harrison and others likely isn’t enough to change that.
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