Ex-NFL Scout Floats Theory Behind Late-Season Steelers Collapse

The Pittsburgh Steelers failed to end this past season on a high note.

Pittsburgh, although promising through its 10-3 start to the season, suffered a sudden collapse to end the campaign. The Steelers lost their final five games, including their AFC wild-card duel with the Baltimore Ravens. It was abrupt and dramatic and provided cause for an offseason response. With quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields both approaching free agency, it’s unknown where the franchise will go direction-wise.

However, as far as looking back at where everything went wrong, former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah has an idea.

“They looked like a dead-legged team,” Jeremiah said during an appearance on the “Shek Show” podcast. “They looked tired and exhausted, which to me is reason to at least consider studying practices in terms of how aggressive you wanna go in training camp. I love going to Steelers camp cause it is like an old-school — I mean they are hitting, they’re in pads and they come out the gates hot because they’re so weathered and worn with how they approach it. But now this is a lot of evidence of them faltering and falling apart late in the season. So maybe there’s something they need to look into from that standpoint of trying to maintain their legs a little bit.”

Falling short has been an ongoing trend in Pittsburgh in recent years. The Steelers haven’t advanced past the divisional round for the past eight years, giving the franchise a total of three postseason victories in the past decade. They haven’t reached the Super Bowl in the past 15 years and haven’t hoisted a Vince Lombardi Trophy since 2008. Whether or not that warrants smashing the panic button this offseason is up for team owner Art Rooney II to decide.

So far, the spirits outside Acrisure Stadium aren’t all that positive.

The Steelers were targeted with a bold billboard message in Pittsburgh, courtesy of one deeply passionate and equally disappointed fan. It read two options for the franchise moving forward: either Rooney sells the team or head coach Mike Tomlin is fired. There’s a greater chance of Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown teaming up for an oldtimer’s re-run next season than Rooney and the rest of Pittsburgh’s ownership feeling threatened by a billboard.

Nevertheless, there are definitely several critical decisions to make this offseason if the Steelers intend to get back on track and put their second-half collapse this past season fully behind them.

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