Patrick Queen said the quiet part out loud on Sunday afternoon after the Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss to the Chicago Bears and pointed to schematic issues for some of the defense’s biggest blunders in the game. His remarks were like throwing fuel on a media firestorm given the defense’s historically poor pace this season.
Cam Heyward was asked for his opinion on the matter before practice on Wednesday.
“It’s not just schematic,” Heyward said in a clip posted by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Brian Batko on X. “I think we all have to take accountability. Schematic, execution, have to go hand in hand. You might not have the perfect play, but if you have the perfect execution, you can make things go away.”
To be fair, Queen didn’t stop at blaming schematics. He also acknowledged that they have to execute better. But I can’t think of too many other instances over the last several years of players pointing to schematics or coaching as part of the issue. The only other example that immediately comes to mind is the way that Najee Harris used to speak about Matt Canada’s offense.
Heyward is the longest tenured member of the Steelers. If anybody has the sway and political capital in the locker room to say something like that, it’s him. It’s notable that he didn’t completely dismiss the idea, even if he did take the high road to share blame between execution and scheme.
The glaring example from Pittsburgh’s loss in Chicago was the four verticals play that the Bears ran, which resulted in a wide-open DJ Moore for a touchdown. It may have looked like an execution issue, but multiple players have now hinted at schematic problems with the play call in that situation.
You can view a more thorough breakdown of the Steelers’ defensive scheme from our Alex Kozora here.
It would be one thing if the players were playing near-perfect football for them to be blaming schematics, but that’s simply not the case. Look no further than Josh Carney’s missed tackle report, which has been a total mess this season, as one of the biggest culprits.
It’s never a good sign when the biggest media topic of the week is centered on who is the correct party to blame. But that’s where we are at with the most expensive defense on pace to produce the worst results in franchise history.
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