Another primetime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers last week has the Pittsburgh Steelers reeling. They’ve dropped three of their last four games and continue to look unable to put together a complete team performance. With a brutal schedule to finish the season, and red-hot and suddenly healthy the Baltimore Ravens gaining ground, it may feel like panic time for many in Pittsburgh.
Mike Sando of The Athletic feels a different vibe emanating from the Steelers.
“In Pittsburgh, I think it’s more resignation than panic, with some hope flickering still that things can be figured out,” Sando wrote in The Athletic’s Week 11 NFL Roundtable.
A feeling of resignation suggests that the Steelers realize their current roster isn’t capable of taking that next step that has eluded the franchise for the better part of a decade. The latest embarrassing loss might be enough to tip the scales of belief in some who were still holding out hope that this season could be different.
It’s genuinely hard to tell what the 2025 Steelers are. At best, they can be labeled inconsistent. Perhaps erratic or unpredictable are preferable. Whichever word one chooses to describe the team, one thing is clear: you never know what you’re going to get when the Steelers take the field.
At times, the offense is proficient enough to move the ball and score points and there have been times where the defense has been able to stick to its identity by stopping the run and creating turnovers. But there have also been moments when the defense can’t buy a stop or the offense can’t generate any momentum—sometimes both at once.
Aaron Rodgers was brought in as yet another veteran stopgap at quarterback, and for much of the season he managed to keep the offense steady. But against the Chargers, he delivered his worst performance of the season and appeared visibly frustrated, if not outright resigned, to the bleak circumstances.
Sando mentioned a flickering hope that Steelers will still be able to figure things out. And really, would a team that has already accepted a failed season sign veteran cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. to eventually bolster a struggling cornerback group? After all, under Mike Tomlin, the Steelers have always managed to keep fighting, flaws and all.
The remaining eight regular-season games will reveal a lot about the Steelers, individually and collectively. The question will be whether that flicker of hope can become something tangible. The stretch run won’t just determine their postseason fate; it will show whether this team has the resolve and talent to rise above its inconsistencies or whether resignation will truly be the defining sentiment of the season.
