The Steelers Are Developing A Bad Habit

Ben Fumbles

      The Pittsburgh Steelers are getting into the habit of losing. Five turnovers, two of them returned for touchdowns, doomed the Steelers to a 40-23 loss to the Chicago Bears. The 0-3 Steelers will head to Europe and play against the 0-3 Minnesota Vikings to try to avoid becoming the franchise's first team in 45 years to lose their first four games.

       "We have to do a better job taking care of the football, period," said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, whose team has lost nine turnovers in three games this season and the defense hasn't gotten one turnover. It is the first time the Pittsburgh Steelers have lost their first three games since 2000. It was nice to see Heath Miller back in action.

        The 0-3 start, never experienced by any of them here, had some players groping for ways to describe it. "It's a deep hole," Roethlisberger said. "It's getting deeper, but we're not going to quit." "We need to make something happen here quickly," defensive captain Ryan Clark said. "It's hard, it's frustrating, it's all those words," said another defensive captain, Brett Keisel. "This team is not going to lay down and roll over."

       Although Ben Roethlisberger completed 26 of 41 for 406 yards and Antonio Brown caught nine passes for a career-high 196 yards and two touchdown, the turnovers killed them. Tomlin has a big job ahead of him, perhaps his biggest since taking the job in 2007. Part of that is to keep his winless team focused on their jobs."I'm not going to pat them on the back for sticking together, for continuing to work or for being mentally tough," Tomlin said. "I expect them to, and that's what I just told them in there."

There Were Stars In Pittsburgh's Loss To Redskins

The Pittsburgh Steelers lost their 1st pre-season game to the Washington Redskins, but there were highlights.
Chris G. writes: But not all was a wash Friday night as two young players raised their level of play and took the spotlight. Antonio Brown, who has gotten plenty of reps with the first team due to injuries, was the star of the offense. He finished with four receptions for 64 yards. More importantly, it was the little things that made Brown impressive. Such as blocking down field on Isaac Redman’s touchdown run. He beat DeAngelo Hall deep, but Byron Leftwich was unable to connect with him. He also drew a pass interference call.

On the defensive side of the ball, much was left to be desired as the starting unit looked disinterested in tackling and the decimated defensive backfield struggled in stopping Rex Grossman. However, Pittsburgh’s first-round draft choice, Cameron Heyward, did not disappoint. Heyward was a force on the line, winning many of his battles to disrupt developing run plays. One of the highlights of the night was when Heyward broke through to overpower running back Ray Helu, spinning him to the ground for a short loss.

Let us know how you think the 2011 Pittsburgh Steelers will perform this year. Can they get back to the Super Bowl and win it? Will they have to overcome more key injuries and rely on less talent? What do you think of the new rules the NFL will implement? Especially on kickoffs, will they affect the Steelers or not? 

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Philadelphia Eagles next.