Bear Necessites: The AskQuestionsLater Take. Final Thoughts.

Hello fellow brothers and sisters of TheSteelersFans! AskQuestionsLater here, bringing you my personal final thoughts on the debacle of what appears to be a continuation of a nightmare; losing on the road while being heavily favored to win and not to be mistaken for the "inferior team" narrative. Given the fact that this team appeared to be a team that could spell the end of the narrative that many fans, both Steelers and others, chimed in about "playing down to their competition", one would have expected a more concentrated effort within adhering to the fundementals of the game. However, as the game went on, I had found much of the issues from both the Cleveland and Minnesota game prior either have not been addressed or have not been properly corrected. As such, complacency reared its ugly head on Sunday and claimed its victim; the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now, allow me to contribute within the thoughts and feelings of the community with my own.


As I share my thoughts and feelings, please be aware that this is simply my personal opinion of what happened. I am certain that I may in fact leave specific portions of the flaws within the game out and may be more significant towards you and others. Bear in mind however that I am rationalizing key areas within the game that were just as to blame as others. That being said, let us get on with my final thoughts.



Even Trebuchets Need A Break:



To begin, Pittsburgh's offense was ranked 27th in the league in third down conversions entering that contest. Given the fact that situational football often dictates who often will be able to come out on top, one would suspect that Ben Roethlisberger and the offense would make strides in attempting to correct that issue by using high percentage passes to reliable targets like Jesse James or have Le'Veon Bell be more active in the passing game (an improvement but a far ways off) to complete those second or third and medium/short yardage drives. Sadly, that was seen very little. Instead, what instead happened, early in the game, was a wonderfully morbid spectacle that I initally thought would not be an issue in the form of Big Ben using his Trebuchet of an arm to "heave ho" downfield to Martavis Bryant. Such a theme would continue throughout the course of the game but not just for Martavis as Antonio Brown also saw some passes being launched from the Earth to the Stratosphere and back to Earth again. There definitley were some moments in the game in which Ben did elect to target JuJu Smith Schuster and Jesse James for those high percentage rate throws that could sustain drives but such occurances were too far and too few in between. By the time that the offense elected to sustain drives to win the game, it was too little too late in the fourth quarter.


Other issue that became quite evident was the lack of a push from the offensive line. For an offensive line that is well over $100 million USD, one would suspect that this line would equate better success on the ground. Sure, Marcus Gilbert then Ramon Foster going down plus the very underrated core of Johnathan Bullard, Eddie Goldman and Akiem Hicks would likely ensure this game to be much tougher gaining yards, the fact of the matter that a 70 yard performance will make it more ardurous to win football games than a value that is greater like the Chicago Bears. As we know, a good, balanced offensive attack is the best way to win football games. When teammates are in synchronization and harmony, an offenses ability to project its firepower is augmented due to such cohesion; doubly so if you have superstars on the offensive side of the ball who are arguably the best in the game. However, when the offense is not in synchronization, even the best of weapons are rendered useless due to the lack of cohension. Much of this will have to fall on Big Ben himself. Being too complacent about launching the football ove 20 yards downfield and not checking down towards drive sustained receptions can hurt your teams chances of success. While it does need be stated that the execution needs to improve as well, such as JuJu's combat catching and Jesse's routes, some of that will still have to fall on Ben for being too gluttonous in an attempt to put the game away early as opposed to maintain drives then possibly put points on the board soon thereafter. In light of that though, Chicago's passing attack was rendered useless much like Pittsburgh's ground attack was.



Yet, in spite of the passing yards were anemic, another underlying issue that was more magnified yesterday than it had been all season long thus far would re-emerge; fundementals and basics. This leads me into the defensive side of the ball.



"C?" Wrapping Up Is Still A Requirement:




Since 2014, Pittsburgh has been consistenly rebuilding its defensive unit to get back to the "Renegade" days of old where the team could simply crush and smash any opponent into submission at its beckon call. So far this season, heading into Week Four, Pittsburgh ranks fifth in the league in points allowed, third in points per game, tied in second for sacks with 11 and fifth in the league in third down efficency with 30.77%. All of these sound like good numbers correct? Indeed they are. However, one major area of concern I have is with missed tackles. Given the fact that this is still sadly not an official statistic because "reasons", I honestly saw at least two to four missed tackles per running play. Not per drive, per play. While I do understand that, with a swarming style of defense the Steeles have, such missed tackles will happen, such events should only happen once every so often and not just about every snap of every play.



Speaking of plays, a whopping 38 of 62 offensive plays, equating to a 61.29% play percentage, were rushing plays. Given this information in addition to what John Fox was doing early on, it was evident to me that gap control and fundemental tackling would be essential to stopping "Human Joystick" Tarik Cohen and Jordan Howard. Little did I know that neither essential forms of defense were to be found late game. The missed tackles were in abundance early on; sustained drives leading to scores as a result no less. It was not until late game that gap control finally reared its ugly head. Let us look at some examples below:




(Picture is from SteelesDepot.)




(Picture is from SteelersDepot)



(Picture is from SteelersDepot)





(Picture is from SteelersDepot)



As the caption in the first and second picture describes, there is literally no one within the vicinity of the C Gap of of the rushing play nor within the area shown above. We, as fans, need to remember that much of Jordan Howard's success predicated on runs associated within the B and C gaps of the offensive line; payving his way to becoming the second leading rusher from a season ago. Taking away said gaps forces Howard up the middle. While Howard definitley has the explosiveness and violent aggression upon heading up the middle, his shoulder injury was an area of concern for the Bears. The solution? Find ways around the interior via rushing on the outside lanes. Little did they suspect that the Steelers defense gave them presents for much of the game... sans the final OT drive where phantom holding calls were located. Even without Jordan Howard, Tarik Cohen lived up to his name by not only exploiting these fundemental gap assignment breakdowns but also preying on Pittsburgh's inability to execute proper tackle form. I understand that tackling as a whole is a league wide epidemic but the best teams minimize these types of issues.



The second picture however is where things truly become intriguing. Here we have a 13 personnel set. Notice how Hargrave, Dupree and Shazier shift to the strong side. Where is the safety coming in the box to round out the numbers? For that matter, why is the safety unaware of the defensive shift to begin with? Yes, for those of you wondering, this is one of the phantom penalites on Chicago in the fact that Joe was getting hugged then tackled. However, this still does not explain as to why the safety does not elect to come up in the box.



The third and fourth pictures are truly the ones that has my blood boiling and rising as this is not the first time I have seen this. In the third picture, where is Sean Davis even going? Why is he approacing the weak side of an obvious running play? Why is he not on the strong side? So many times I have seen this from Sean and I am not accounting for just this game either. From the preseason of the Falcons game to now, way too many times is Sean Davis second guessing himself and not adhearing to the basics of the game; exectue your assignment. Most people may call for Keith Butler due to the inability of not accounting for the run or Bud Dupree and Anthony Chickillo not properly setting the edge. I am buying neither argument as, in all reality, both Bud and Chickillo exectued their assignments as they were to be. The safeties are to blame; namely Sean Davis, which brings me to this; I really hope the scouts are scouting hard for a safety because I personally cannot take too much more of this lackadasical mental laspe forms that Sean Davis loves to showcase. Nevermind his gap discipline, his tackling form is still not up to par either. Never would I have thought that, a guy so phsycially gifted and talented would be undergoing an ugly "Sophomore Slump". His fellow classmates in Artie Burns and Javon Hargrave have been nothing short of exceptional. Sean has not and it has been very disappointing and frustrating to see thus far.


Speaking of mental lapses, let us not forget the Special Teams.




Not So Special Are We?:




Through two weeks heading into Chicago, Pittsburgh's Special Teams were big reasons towards their win. Be it Cris Boswell's four field goal performance and Joran Berry's improvement on pinning Minnesota inside their own 20 to Tyler Matakevich and Anthony Chickillo both helping Pittsburgh get their first points of the season in Cleveland, the special teams were on the right and fast track for me. Heading into this game, I did not expect to see much turnover or change given their stellar performances. Once again, I would be proven otherwise. A botched punt by Eli Rodgers and a missed blocking assignment by the kicking unit would ultimately construct two possibilites as I watched;


1.) Turn momentum early.


2.) Force Pittsbugh to play catch up.



As both of these circumstances whirled witihn my head, during the game, I had noticed that Chicago was doing just as much to lose as Pittsburgh was trying to win. It is almost the most impossibly morbid sense of humor I have seen since Mike Glennon's last performance against Pittsburgh while at Tampa Bay. I did not think Mike Glennon would perform some "ret-con" and have a sequel either. For that matter, I also came to the conclusion after the blocked field goal that this game would not bode well. I did cling onto hope heading into the fourth quarter but after seeing that Tarik Cohen run with a hint of those delicious phantom penalties, I concluded that Chicago would win on a big running play. Sure enough... they did.


So much for consistency regarding the Special Teams being "Special".




Final Thoughts:


What is done is done. No looking back now. High noon will soon approach in Baltimore and one team will be headed for "Boots Hill". For me to watch the game after conversing with some friends in addition to skimming over the comments on the site, I personally thought that some of what many of you appeared to be a bit fabricated and thought my friends were full of it. Turns out I was the naive one to think that Pittsburgh's overall woes within the team itself on how they played heading into Chicago would yield zero negative impact. While the game ended in heart crushing fashion, let this be a lesson to the Steelers; great teams find ways to win while good teams find excuses to make.




Given Ben's clock is more audible with each passing day, the excuses should have been over since week one. Now that I know this not to be the case, time is fastly approaching and Ben's days as an NFL quarterback will soon come to a close; Pittsburgh's Super Bowl window the same should they not rebound heading into Baltimore and Jacksonville soon thereafter.



That is all for me for the time being fellow brothers and sisters! What are your thoughts about the "Chicago Collapse"? What are you most disappointed with? Who are you most disappointed with? Do you believe that Pittsburgh's offensive woes can be fixed in time? Please let me know in the comments as it always is very much appreaciated!



Once again, thank you for reading! See you next time!

 

Nice write up. I am kind of too disillusioned to comment in detail. I feel somewhat feckless and listless. I will boil it down to just a few things.

1.) They need to get a grip on play calling: who calls what plays when? I have said it before, but Haley left on his own to call plays is a disaster. For years, the O produces under semi-hurry up, with seemingly Ben calling more of the plays. Haley favors bubble screens on day. Ben seems to want to go deep when there is a wide open guy to make the 1st down throw. Both are bad. Until they figure out better play calling, we will stumble around like a drunk at 3 AM.

2.) O line play. It sucks. Is Munch OK? He was what fixed the unit. They are getting zero push, and passing protection is OK but not as good as last year.

3.) The D is bad. They played a journeyman bum at QB AND a RB who played with one arm and they still couldn't stop them when they had to. The poor angles and missed tackles were an embarrassment to the team, the fans and the city. Tuitt and TJ coming back should help. Maybe they will jell as the season progresses, but right now, the D is terrible considering the bad/rookie/journeymen QBs they have faced. Think about it. Just imagine what Brady, Rogers, Luck or even Flacco will do to them.

 

I am curious if we yet again need to go back to.... James Harrison as a starter to set the edge. Resigning David Johnson to block.

 

I wouldn't be against signing DJ back but to what end, I mean Bell had open areas but isn't taking them. He had room to the sidelines jumped inside and got defenders to follow, if he jump cuts back outside he gets ten easily.

 

Weird.


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Ben being sub-par on the road combined with a D that follows suit late in the game. We have seen our share of that since Grad beat us with the Raiders at Heinz Field. Inexplicable how it keeps happening.

 

I think some small measure of that is a failure to scout the other team and exploit mismatches. We know teams target Will Gay on shallow crosses but don't try to minimize that. This attitude that what we do works it is proven to work so either anything alter it, just causes problems.

 

Good points. It has been said that Bud Grant never altered his approach and had a "just play better" mentality. We see where that got him.

 

I noticed this. In the game thread we were talking about how they were running up the middle too much; but Bell seemed reluctant to cut outside even when the opportunity was there.

Maybe the game film will show something different... but it was odd to see.

 

Ben simply needs to stop bombing it, I know he wants that to be his thing but it ain’t working. Oh and no empty sets

 

You are correct in a way.


It did not happen in a high volume. It was seldom seen; hence where I was coming from.


Regarding Ben electing not to, I concur. Going for those sustained drives is far more important to victory than attempting to go for an early knock out.


Early knockouts are high risk/high reward to begin with. Then again, Ben's gunslinging mentality also falls in this category.

 

I agree with the 2 above me, and dare I say it.... Ben should be a game manager.

 

I would not say Ben needs to become that.


I am stating Ben needs to improve his decision making upon early downs to sustain drives. I am all for going for the killshot but only if needed or required.


Attempting the killshot constantly in succession without results is like expecting the cornerbacks cover for sevem seconds without a pass rush.



It makes no sense.

 

One of the things that always bugs me is that one of the things Tomlin constantly says is that they are in the business of winning Football games yet their actions seem to run counter to that.Bell when game ready is a dynamic game changing player but he is not ready and when you are trying to win games can you afford to keep feeding him in the hopes he gets into shape?

 

Ben is best as play action QB