The Pittsburgh Steelers' 2024 season came to a conclusion with yet another first-round playoff loss for Mike Tomlin. The Baltimore Ravens dominated the Steelers' defense with Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, who combined for over 260 rushing yards. Pittsburgh's defense has looked worse than ever during the team's season-ending five-game losing streak. Safety DeShon Elliott was asked after the loss about the team's struggles with communication.
The Steelers have now lost six straight postseason games. During that span, Tomlin and the Steelers allowed an average of over 38 points per game. Pittsburgh's current defensive unit has looked lost for weeks now, and it wasn't able to turn things around on the road against its AFC North rivals.
Elliott is one of the very few players on the defensive unit that has played at a high level consistently throughout the year. After the loss on Saturday night, Elliott was asked if the defense has struggled with communication.
"Honestly, I feel like we communicated well, great communication," Elliott told Pittsburgh reporters. "Feel like the distribution of who was gonna match who, I think we for the most part didn't have any busts. They lined up in front of us and they beat us, no excuses on that."
Henry had a historic night on the ground for Baltimore against a Pittsburgh defense that just simply had no answers. Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin and the rest of the coaching staff failed miserably at putting together a game plan to stop one of the league's best running backs.
Jackson and the Ravens were even able to beat the Steelers through the air. While Jackson only threw for 175 passing yards, he threw for two scores and four different receivers had a catch of 20 yards or longer. The Ravens won their one-on-one moments when they needed to, and the Steelers did not.
Pittsburgh's defense completely fell off of a cliff after the first half of the regular season, and the organization needs to find out why. The Steelers are going to need to make big changes on both sides of the football during the 2025 offseason.
With the season coming to an end, the front office will have to take hard consideration into the outlook of the next defense. The Steelers clearly need help at cornerback and on the defensive line, while their biggest stars are only getting older by the minute. The organization was pushing towards a postseason victory for this season, but more adjustments must be made before that ends up happening.
Steelers' Mike Tomlin Future Now A Tad Uncertain After Playoff Loss To Ravens
As the fan base grows more impatient as each year passes by without a playoff win, Tomlin's time with the Steelers is beginning to run short. Over the course of the week, Tomlin told reporters that his lack of playoff success weighs on his shoulders, and not the current roster. The Steelers are known for winning championships, but they haven't been anywhere near that stratosphere in a long time. Tomlin signed a three-year contract extension during the 2024 offseason.
The 2024 season couldn't have finished in any worse fashion. This disastrous losing streak should give the players and coaches another lesson to learn from. The Steelers haven't been able to find themselves both starting and finishing seasons strong. This season, a big reason was because of the defense failing. What do you think about Elliott's comments? What does the defense need to change for 2025?
