Steelers insider explains why there might be 'trouble brewing' in Pittsburgh

As if the offense struggling wasn't bad enough, the backbone of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the defense, has also had a ton of issues in recent weeks. And, players have not been shy about voicing their frustrations with the situation.

There are a lot of specific things you can point to in terms of what to blame the issues on, like poor tackling, miscommunication and injuries, for example. But is there one person who is the biggest cause of the unit's struggles overall?

Steelers beat reporter Mark Kaboly thinks that could be the case, and he wonders if there's "troubling brewing" in Pittsburgh with players possibly being on the verge of outing one or more others who they feel are part of the problem.

"The sense I am getting are the players are getting closer and closer of outing the person who they feel is a big part of the problem on defense," Kaboly wrote in the wake of the Steelers' loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 17.

Kaboly cites a few quotes from linebacker Patrick Queen.

“Can’t explain it, it’s happening," Queen said. "We keep talking about it. Nobody is doing a thing about it. ... If nobody does anything about what they are supposed to be doing then we don't have any room for it.”

"I don't know if we have to keep saying it," Queen added after a follow-up question. "We have said it the last two or three weeks. It is at a point where you realize it and go out there and play fast and play physical and do your job."

Safety DeShon Elliott was quite outspoken about players doing their jobs after the Christmas Day defeat.

"First off, guys can't be f****** wide open," Elliott said after the game. "That's the first thing. Just do your job, you know?

"I thought we communicated. Guys just weren't doing their freaking job. So, get back to the drawing board. It's Week 18. Shouldn't be having these problems in Week 18," Elliott added. "This is a Week 1, Week 2 problem. So, I don't know where we went down the line, started becoming a whole different defense than what we were, but we've got to get back to who we are."

Star defensive lineman Cam Heyward also touched on the situation and talked about how one guy not doing his job can ruin the whole unit.

“When 10 guys do their job and one guy doesn’t, we are screwed,” Heyward said. “It comes down to communicating, it comes down to executing, it comes down to guys following their assignments.”

Based on the comments from players, it doesn't appear to be a coaching issue, but rather a player issue.

Whatever the issue is, the Steelers have to figure it out quick with the playoffs rapidly approaching. Thankfully, head coach Mike Tomlin revealed that changes are afoot.

"We're not going to continue to do the same things and hope for a different result," Tomlin said. "That doesn't seem sharp to me. And so, we're going to take a hard look at this. We've got a couple of extra days before we get back into it.

Pittsburgh will be up against it in the playoffs if their offense doesn't improve, but the Steelers will have zero shot of making a run if the defense continues to play the way it has.