While researching the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason, I came across a troubling stat that has haunted the defense during the past two seasons: completions allowed. To illustrate this, here is a visual of the Steelers’ all-time defensive history in completion rates allowed, along with pass attempts faced for context.
Thanks to Stathead’s data, we see that the Steelers have struggled the last two years. In fact, each season ranked dead last or next to it. In 2024, Pittsburgh’s defense posted its worst completion rate allowed in franchise history: 65.6 percent. Last season, the number was 64.6 percent, tied for the second-worst.
Facing an alarming rate of pass attempts is also discouraging. The 2025 Steelers defense faced 613 pass attempts, the second-most in franchise history. 2024 also landed in the bottom five with 582 attempts faced.
Part of this is the changing era, with the league becoming more pass-happy. Meanwhile, defenses are shifting to more zone coverage than man, giving offenses easier completion opportunities. But that doesn’t account for the entire issue.
Another stat to gauge pass coverage quality is QB Rating Allowed. The 2025 Steelers defense allowed a 92.2 rating against, the third-worst mark in franchise history. 2024 wasn’t much better, with that 87.5 rating ranking as the sixth-worst in Pittsburgh history.
Hopefully, these grim passing defense statistics turn around. The team has a new coaching staff and has made some personnel changes to hopefully remedy these problems.
I also wanted to share how things broke down by coverage type in 2025:
This shows a clear view of which coverages Pittsburgh leaned on and where its defense needs improvement. Pittsburgh’s defense is undeniably more successful in man coverage (Cover 0, Cover 1, Cover 2) than in zone coverage (all other coverages).
Allowing a higher completion rate in zone coverage was expected. But using league ranks on the table gives context to the Steelers’ defense having worse issues than most teams.
The Steelers were at their worst in Cover 2 (30th in completion rate allowed). Hopefully this will be the biggest improvement in 2026. They also produced poor results in Cover 4 (27th in completion rate allowed) and Cover 3 (24th).
Pittsburgh runs man coverage at an above-average rate, and its most frequent zone coverages were Cover 2 and Cover 3. It would be wise for the Pittsburgh Steelers defense to continue playing man coverage, which it’s more successful at. But keying in on being sound in zone needs to be a focus in 2026.
Recommended for you