The Pittsburgh Steelers have lost three games in a row as they fell 29-10 to the Chiefs on Wednesday afternoon. The Steelers did all kinds of things wrong that they couldn’t afford to do against the NFL’s best team and have fallen out of the top of the AFC North standings.

So without further ado, here are some of the numbers involved in the Steelers Week 17 loss to the Chiefs.

-2

For the second week in a row, the Steelers were on the negative side of the turnover margin. Even worse, it was the first time since the Steelers Week 4 matchup in Indianapolis where they did not have a takeaway. I know some might be quick to point out the Steelers had an interception in the game, but it was on a 2-point conversion attempt where statistics, outside of points scored, are not kept on those plays. With the Steelers throwing one interception and losing one fumble, they came out on the negative side of the turnover margin by more than one for the second time this season, both of which were losses.

5 vs. 0

The Steelers struggled mightily to put pressure on Patrick Mahomes while constantly being unable to protect Russell Wilson. The Steelers had no sacks in the game and only 2 quarterback hits where the Chiefs racked up 5 sacks of Russell Wilson with 9 quarterback hits. While a good portion of this is on the pass rush, the Chiefs were throwing the ball extremely quickly to open receivers while the Steelers were holding the ball for a long time with mixed results as to whether or not players were open downfield.

320

Last week, the Steelers fell in defeat in large part by not being able to stop the run. This week the Chiefs only had 69 rushing yards in the game, the lowest total  the Steelers have surrendered since Week 10. The problem was the Chiefs did not have to run the ball because they were so effective in the passing game with 320 passing yards. It was the most passing yards to Steelers surrendered since Week 5 against the Dallas Cowboys (336) and only the second time all season where a team had net passing yards over 300 against them. But to show how quickly the Chiefs were getting the ball out, 176 of their 320 receiving yards were yards after the catch.

30%

A bit of a deceiving statistic is the Steelers defense held the Kansas City Chiefs to only 30% of their third down conversions. The Chiefs were 3 of 10 on the day, but this does not accurately tell the story. The problem is the Chiefs were getting first downs without even reaching third down. In fact, the Chiefs last two touchdown drives never reached a third down play. As for the Steelers, they converted 50% of their third downs as they went 8 for 16. Unfortunately, the third down conversions only netted the team 10 points in the game.

202

At first glance it may appear that the Steelers were extremely effective in rushing the football. Unfortunately, their success seemed to be very situational. In the first half, Jaylen Warren had eight carries for 61 yards and the Steelers were sitting at 97 rushing yards on 18 attempts. In the second half, Warren only had three rushing attempts for 10 yards. For the game, Najee Harris moved slightly ahead of Warren with 74 rushing yards on 13 car. But most of this was garbage yards in garbage time as Harris had 45 yards on 5 attempts on the Steelers final drive of the game where the Chiefs were more than willing to let the Steelers run the ball and keep the clock moving with a 19-point lead. As much as I hate to admit it, it seems that the Steelers were merely trying to pat Harris‘ stats at the end of the game. It should also be noted that the Steelers 202 rushing yards on 31 carries which brought a 6.5 average was highly aided by Russell Wilson’s 6 carries for 55 yards.

9 vs. 4

Another place where it seems the Steelers did a nice job came in the penalty department as they only had 4 accepted penalties for 25 yards where the Chiefs had 9 accepted penalties for 90 yards. It should be noted that 30 of the yards against the Chiefs were on extra points based on their celebrations.

20:49

During the Steelers three-game losing streak, something that has reared it’s ugly head again for the third time is how much the Steelers have collapsed over the final 20 minutes of the game. The Steelers have started slow for the first 20 minutes, played well in the middle 20 minutes, but stunk it up even worse to finish out the game. This week, the Steelers scored a Chris Boswell field goal to answer the Chiefs score to begin the second half. This occurred with 5:49 remaining in the third quarter. But over those final 20:49, the Steelers gave up a touchdown on a 77-yard drive in which the Chiefs never reached the third down, fumbled the ball back to the Chiefs, and gave up another touchdown 4 plays later. The Steelers allowed the tide to turn so quickly at the beginning of the final 20 minutes the rest of the time really didn’t matter.

19

The Steelers suffered their largest defeated the season by losing to the Chiefs by 19 points. As bad as that was for the Steelers, it’s even worse when looking at Kansas City, who have not blown teams out this season. In fact, the Chiefs 19-point win is their largest victory this season.

80% vs. 25%

Once again the Steelers red zone woes showed up against the two-time defending Super Bowl champions. The Steelers reached the red zone four times in the game only scoring one touchdown with the other drives ending in a field goal, an interception, and to end the game. The Chiefs, however, reached the red zone five times and scored touchdowns on four possessions and a field goal on the other.

0

The Steelers lost. It’s the third one in a row, with all three losses having been by 14 points or more. Whether or not the Steelers get another tally in the wind column during the 2024 regular season with only one game remaining is irrelevant as hope is dwindling that they can put a tally in that column in the postseason for the first time since the 2016 season.

So there are some numbers to help put the Steelers Week 17 loss in perspective. Even though the Steelers are in the postseason, limping in after three double-digit losses in a row does not instill confidence.

So what numbers from Sunday’s game stand out to you? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.