The Pittsburgh Steelers were once 7-4 and had teams that would both have 2-10 records next up on their schedule.
Ah, the strangeness that can happen in an NFL season, The AFC North team is now 7-6 after losing to the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots in succession.
Thursday’s 21-18 loss to the Patriots was disconcerting because a team that had all sorts of trouble scoring got three TD passes from Bailey Zappe … in the first half.
The Patriots didn’t score after the break but Mitchell Trubisky was ineffective and could only manage one touchdown drive after halftime.
Trubisky was 22-of-35 for 190 yards a TD and a pick.
Zabbe was 19-of-28 for 240 and the three TDs.
The Patriots came into the game losers of 8 of 9 and 5 straight. They had scored a total of 13 points in their last three games.
Against the Steelers, they topped that three-game total less than a minute into the second quarter when Zappe hit Hunter Henry with a TD pass.
He added another one to his tight end midway through the quarter for a 21-3 lead.
Bailey Zappe & Hunter Henry (24-yd TD) 📽️
Zappe is currently 4 of 6 for 82 yards & 2 TDs (+28.2% CPOE) on passes over 10 air yards midway through the second quarter. Entering tonight, Patriots QBs had a 39.2% comp pct over 10+ air yards (30th in NFL).#NEvsPIT | #ForeverNE pic.twitter.com/RVxMxHxyXE
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) December 8, 2023
Pittsburgh scored the last two TDs of the game but still came up short in front of a restless home crowd.
The Steelers next are at Indianapolis before finishing the season at home against the Bengals and with road games at Seattle and Baltimore.
The losses to the 2-10 Cardinals and Patriots have made their path to the playoffs much more difficult.