The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered another tough loss on Sunday, falling to the Chicago Bears 31-28 at Soldier Field.
The Steelers’ passing attack continued to sputter, managing just 159 net passing yards in Aaron Rodgers’ absence despite facing one of the league’s most generous defenses. Pittsburgh has now fallen short of 200 net passing yards six times this season (including three of its last four games), ranking 22nd in the NFL in passing yards per game despite having one of the greatest quarterbacks ever under center.
Meanwhile in Texas, the Dallas Cowboys overcame a 21-point deficit against the Philadelphia Eagles thanks to another monster game from George Pickens, who hauled in all nine of his targets for 146 receiving yards and a touchdown. In a seven-day span last week, Pickens helped lead the Cowboys to back-to-back wins with a whopping 290 receiving yards, 18 catches and two touchdowns.
In his first 11 games with Dallas, the 24-year-old wideout already has as many receiving touchdowns (eight) as he did during his last two Steelers seasons combined. He’s already up to 1,054 receiving yards as well — more than all of Pittsburgh’s wide receivers combined this year (1,009).
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Trading Pickens to the Cowboys for a mere third-round pick in May has proven to be a colossal disaster for the Steelers, who could desperately use another weapon in their passing game to take some of the pressure off DK Metcalf. Pickens is having a career year with Dak Prescott in Dallas while Pittsburgh’s aerial attack has struggled without him, contributing to four losses in the team’s last six games.
If the Steelers end up missing the playoffs, trading one of the NFL’s top receivers for such a meager return will likely be a huge reason why.
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Featured image via Tommy Gilligan/Imagn Images