Category: 2021 Wild Card Steelers vs. Chiefs

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes asks Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger a Jersey swap

Ben Roethlisberger and Patrick Mahomes are planning a jersey swap.

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Sunday night marked the end of an era for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The game won’t be remembered for the 42-21 blowout playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. This game will be remembered as the final game of the Hall of Fame career of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

After the game, Roethlisberger met up with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes at midfield. Mahomes is one of the true young stars in the league and has all the potential to be one of the all-time greats. But on Sunday he was a fan.

Mahomes asked Roethlisberger for a jersey after the game, noting he didn’t want the one Big Ben was wearing. For obvious reasons, that jersey is likely going to end up in Roethlisberger’s home. But Roethlisberger agreed to get Mahomes a jersey and even asked for one of his.

You can check out the video of the full exchange below.

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Steelers HC Mike Tomlin when asked if his WR could have made more plays: ‘Ya think?’

The Steelers wide receivers did Ben Roethlisberger no favors in the first half.

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Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin opened up his postgame press conference giving credit to the Kansas City Chiefs. Tomlin said he wasn’t going to come out there and open up about all the things his team did wrong. The Steelers fell in the first round of the playoffs 42-21 and did very little right after the first quarter.

But when asked about the struggles by the Steelers wide receivers and if he thought they could have made more plays, Tomlin perked up and his tone changed with a sharp, “ya think?”

The Steelers wide receiver play was a comedy of errors in the first half. Two Pittsburgh drives stalled out because of third-down drops by Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool once against showed he might look like the most physical receiver on the roster, he doesn’t play like one.

Pittsburgh is set to lose multiple receivers to free agency and two of them, James Washington and JuJu Smith-Schuster, were the best receivers on the field on Sunday night.

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Steelers fall flat in all phases in blowout loss to Chiefs

The Steelers season ends with an ugly loss.

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It wasn’t about if the Pittsburgh Steelers could beat the Kansas City Chiefs. Given the way these two teams have played, it was something of a given the Steelers wouldn’t be able to keep up. But given this was the last game of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s Hall of Fame career, I think everyone expected a better effort than to be blown out by the Chiefs 42-21.

After the first quarter when the Steelers defense seemed to be inspired to keep Pittsburgh in the game, the wheels fell off completely. The Chiefs offense just toyed with them for three quarters and found new and creative ways to score touchdowns. This included a touchdown pass to an offensive lineman and a touchdown pass thrown by tight end Travis Kelce.

Offensively it was just more of the same for the Steelers. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before but the offensive line struggled, running back Najee Harris was held in check, wide receivers Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool are dropping passes, offensive coordinator Matt Canada remains clueless and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger kept throwing the ball so quickly, no one could make a play.

The Steelers now have plenty of time to contemplate everything that went wrong with the 2021 season and try to rebuild this team around a new quarterback.

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Steelers vs Chiefs: 5 keys to victory for Pittsburgh

How do the Steelers pull off the upset?

No one is giving the Pittsburgh Steelers a chance against the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend. And the Steelers are just fine with that. Pittsburgh is wearing the underdog label with pride and seems very relaxed coming into this wild-card playoff game.

Can the Steelers beat the Chiefs? Absolutely. But this is what has to happen.

Will the Steelers have JuJu Smith-Schuster and Najee Harris vs the Chiefs?

Pittsburgh’s offense could use both guys back this week.

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After a miraculous finish to the regular season, the Pittsburgh Steelers find themself in the playoffs. No time to celebrate though, as the Steelers head back to Kansas City to the site of their worst loss of the season at the hand of the Chiefs.

How this game goes could depend heavily on where or not running back Najee Harris and/or wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster play. Harris is trying to get back from an elbow injury he suffered last week and Smith-Schuster is back to practice after a shoulder injury placed him on IR back in October.

Will either guy play? Cast your vote and let us know.

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In terms of importance, getting Harris back is a much higher priority. If Pittsburgh doesn’t have Harris, they cannot run the football. If the Steelers can’t run the football, they have no chance. But in terms of a spark to the offense, seeing Smith-Schuster back on the field and with what he brings, could be a very big deal.

If I were a betting man, I’d wage both guys play in a limited role. Let us know what you think.

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Steelers RB Najee Harris staying tight-lipped on injured elbow

Najee Harris isn’t saying if he’s playing on Sunday.

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Friday was the first day of practice for Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris this week. The rookie running back has been resting and rehabbing an elbow injury he suffered in last Sunday’s win over the Baltimore Ravens.

This week it is the playoffs and Pittsburgh could really use Harris to power the run game. But when asked about the nature of his injury or his availability for this week, Harris wasn’t talking.

Harris did say he got a shot in the injured elbow to help with pain and inflammation but wouldn’t offer any details on how he injured it or any hint as to his status for this week’s game.

If Harris cannot go it would be some combination of Benny Snell Jr. and Kallen Ballage at running back. This is less than ideal for a team that has no chance of winning if they cannot run the football. Maybe this is all just gamesmanship but you have to think if there is any chance Harris can get out there, even in a limited role, he will.

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Steelers add DB James Pierre to COVID list on Friday

Pittsburgh adds another defensive player to the COVID list.

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When the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday night, they will do it without defensive back James Pierre. The team announced just two days ahead of the wild-card matchup that Pierre had been placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.

In addition to the Pierre move, the Steelers released wide receiver Tyler Vaughns from the practice squad and replaced him with kicker Sam Sloman.

Pierre has been somewhat hit-or-miss for the Steelers this season. After coming into the season competing for a starting spot with Cameron Sutton but now finds himself at the back end of the depth chart thanks to the emergence of Ahkello Witherspoon.

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3 things the Steelers must do to beat the Chiefs in the playoffs

The Steelers must tackle better if they hope to beat Kansas City.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are longshots to win this Sunday’s playoff showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs. But this is the NFL where anything can happen on any given week. Here are three things that must happen if the Steelers hope to upset the Chiefs.

Steelers vs Chiefs: Big causes for concern this week

The Steelers have plenty to worry about this week.

It’s rematch time between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs. These two teams squared off on December 26 and now face each other again this weekend in the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs. The first time around the Chiefs won going away 36-10. That is reason enough to worry about this game but here are three more concerns for this week.