Gerry Dulac: Steelers staring at ghosts of past collapses after another thrashing

PITTSBURGH — These were not the holiday plans the Steelers had in mind shortly before Thanksgiving.

This is not what they were thinking — maybe even hoping — this stretch of three games in 11 days would transpire.

One thing is certain, though: What was looking like a promising season in which they even had visions of the top seed dancing in their heads, the Steelers are spiraling into a familiar and disturbing pattern.

At this point, it doesn’t even seem like much consolation they are in the postseason, not after another blowout to one of the top teams in the league. This one was to the Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who toyed with them like kids on Christmas morning in a 29-10 defeat at Acrisure Stadium.

“That sucked, to be blunt,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “It’s not the type of ball we want to play, and really kind of eerily similar to our last performance.”

The last three, actually. The Steelers have been outscored 90-40 in losses to the Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens and have lost control of the position they held not that long ago in the AFC North.

The loss dropped them to 10-6 and put a division title in jeopardy after the Baltimore Ravens (11-5) pounded the Houston Texans later Wednesday evening. The Steelers now have to win the season finale at home against the Cincinnati Bengals and hope the Ravens lose at home to the Cleveland Browns if they want to win the division.

Otherwise, it’s time to go on the road to play a wild-card playoff game.

It might be too late, but Tomlin said he needs to make changes to get the Steelers back on track. After all, it doesn’t look good, and those are his words.

“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. We’re going to take a look at it and make whatever necessary changes we need to make in the totality of this thing because that doesn't feel good. It doesn't look good. That's just the truth and reality of it.”

This has been a recurring theme for Tomlin’s team.

It was the fourth time in the past six years the Steelers have lost three consecutive games in December and the fifth time in the past seven years they have lost three in a row after Thanksgiving.

“It does suck these last three games,” outside linebacker Alex Highsmith said. “We’ve just got to do what we can to end the season strong and get hot going into the playoffs.”

The Chiefs, meantime, didn’t even need another one-possession game to clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC. It was their largest margin victory of the season and, surprisingly, second-highest point production.

“At the end of the day, when you look back at it all and when we get the chance to play in the playoffs, it becomes 0-0,” said quarterback Russell Wilson, who was held without a touchdown pass for only the second time in 10 starts but produced the only touchdown on a 1-yard run. “Before we get there, though, our belief can't waver. As a matter of fact, if anything, we've got to turn it up even more on our belief.”

That might be hard to do after the way they were manhandled by three of the top teams in the league.

The offense has produced just four touchdowns in three games, and the defense has shown it can’t control any of the top quarterbacks in the league.

Mahomes is now 3-0 lifetime with 12 touchdowns and no interceptions against the Steelers after completing 29 of 38 attempts for 320 yards and three touchdowns Wednesday. It makes it even more difficult when the Steelers failed to sack the two-time league MVP and hit him only twice the entire game.

It didn’t even matter that Najee Harris (74) and Jaylen Warren (71) each rushed for more yards than the entire Chiefs team (69).

“It’s no secret he’s a hell of a player,” outside linebacker T.J. Watt said. “He has great weapons. They have a good scheme. You can’t afford to spot them points and allow him to scramble around in the pocket and have time. We didn’t have any success on any of the things I just said.”

Mahomes started fast, leading the Chiefs on touchdown drives on the first two possessions. And he kept his foot on their neck in the second half when the Chiefs scored on their first three possessions.

The killer was an 11-play, 77-yard drive in which Mahomes completed 8 of 8 passes for 82 yards to set up Kareem Hunt’s 2-yard touchdown for a 22-10 lead. The air went out of the crowd of 67,311 — and the Steelers — right after that.

Maybe a Taylor Swift sighting would have kept them interested. But, alas, there were none of those, either.

“These last three weeks, we haven’t played our best ball,” defensive end Cam Heyward said. “We’ve got to get better. When you can rely on your fundamentals and rely on what got you there, that’s what makes you really successful.”

It did not start out well for the Steelers.

They got behind 13-0 on the Chiefs’ first two possessions, with Mahomes throwing a pair of touchdowns of 7 yards to receiver Xavier Worthy and 11 yards to receiver Justin Watson.

And just when it looked like the Steelers would quickly answer with a nice bounce-back touchdown, Wilson threw a bad interception in the end zone one play after Jaylen Warren’s 8-yard touchdown run was wiped out by a holding penalty against tight end Darnell Washington.

To their credit, they came right back on the next possession to put together an 11-play, 72-yard drive in which Wilson completed 4 of 5 for 45 yards and scored on a 1-yard run at the pylon to make it 13-7.

The Steelers actually had more yards (181-175) and first downs (12-8) than the Chiefs in the first half, even though they trailed at the half, 13-7. In the end, that didn’t matter.

Neither did Najee Harris (74) and Warren (71) each rushing for more yards than the entire Chiefs team (69).

“I think that there are highs and lows in every season, and we've got to make sure that we end this last game on the right footing and right belief,” Wilson said. “And that's going to be really key to how we go about it and how we respond.”