On Sunday evening in Philadelphia, the Pittsburgh Steelers defense put up a spirited fight but couldn’t overcome perhaps the team’s worst offensive performance of the season, ending in a 27-13 defeat at the hands of the high-flying Eagles. As the Steelers look forward to a playoff berth next month, this loss might otherwise seem meaningless for a team leading its division with a 10-4 record. But what’s troubling are the questions raised about the Black-and-gold’s ability to match up against the kind of quality competition they’ll be facing once the regular season concludes.

Scoring a total of 13 points in four quarters of football simply doesn’t cut it against NFL teams such as the Chiefs or Bills which, like the Eagles, have potent offenses led by tough, highly mobile QBs. Despite their impressive and surprising record, the Steelers will face a difficult challenge to move beyond the first playoff round unless their offense can manage considerably better production.

But before delving into the details of a truly awful showing by the offense, the Steelers defense deserves credit for turning in a gutty performance despite being on the field for the majority of the game — plus the utter lack of offensive support. Except for some key runs by Jalen Hurts, who notched 45 yards, the Steelers defense accomplished their goal of containing the Eagles’ rushing attack, while getting what should have been a pair of key turnovers early in the game. They sacked Hurts three times and notched five QB hits. But these efforts largely were negated by an offense that appeared out of sync throughout the game. Not that the defense was flawless by any means, but it probably was playing well enough to win given a modicum of support.

How bad was the offense? Bad enough to enable the Eagles practically to double possession time by a margin of 39:52 to 20:08. Bad enough to convert only three of ten third-down situations and pass for only 107 yards. Bad enough to rush for a total of only 56 yards. Bad enough to post negative passing yardage during the opening quarter while gaining a total of only two yards and zero first downs. Bad enough to score only three points in the first quarter despite their defense and punting team grabbing a pair of fumbles which set them up in excellent field position.

If the results in Philadelphia are indicative of how this offense will perform in the weeks ahead, the Steelers might indeed have a serious problem on their hands, particularly as key injuries take their toll. Russell Wilson was largely ineffective throughout the game and he consistently failed to move the offense. Oddly, the Steelers rushing attack never got untracked as Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren and Cordarrelle Patterson combined for the dismal total of 35 yards rushing for the entire game. In general, the Steelers never showed any real commitment to running the ball — an anomaly which made things much easier for the Eagles’ defense.

It’s tempting to focus on the key fumble by Harris in the latter part of the third quarter as the turning point in the game. At the same time, there’s little confidence (based on the offense’s previous futility) that the Steelers would have been able to tie the score at that point. There’s also no reason to blame Najee for committing what, for him, was a rare error. Without No. 22’s powerful running this season, the Steelers wouldn’t be leading the AFC North.

Looking forward to the final three games of the season, things hardly get any easier for the Steelers. In fact, without a significant resurgence by the offense, it’s not difficult to imagine the Steelers ending the 2024 regular season with a 4-game losing streak.

The Ravens, Chiefs and Bengals will be strongly motivated for different reasons, but each of them fields an offense capable of lighting up the scoreboard. That’s why the spotlight will fall squarely upon Russell Wilson to deliver on the confidence Mike Tomlin showed by naming him as starting QB.

When the Denver Broncos cut ties with Wilson following the 2023 season, fans and pundits widely judged that his days as a championship-level QB had come to an end. At that time, the “book” on Wilson was that, despite his skills and experience, he was no longer the kind of player capable of carrying a team on his back as he had done earlier in his NFL career. In the wake of this depressing defeat, Wilson faces the challenge to demonstrate, at 36 years of age, that he still has the ability to compete among the league’s best QBs.

It’s difficult to imagine Sunday’s offensive pratfall is sitting well with Coach Tomlin, who consistently has stated he expects better production from the offense. And given the fact that the offense was shut out during the entire second half on Sunday, they essentially were missing-in-action for three quarters of the game. This not only reflects poorly on Wilson, but equally on OC Arthur Smith, whose game plan appeared as disjointed as anything we’ve seen drawn up by Matt Canada in previous years.

Fortunately, the Steelers were able to build a significant cushion by running their record to 10-3 in the previous 13 games. They’ve already clinched a playoff berth, but this won’t mean much unless they also find a way to awaken an offense which has been sluggish more often than effective this season. It’s easy to exaggerate the implications of a mid-December loss to a solid team like the Eagles, but it’s equally tempting to ignore the fact that the 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers have rarely demonstrated the level of offense this season necessary for advancing in the playoffs.