On a damp, dreary Pittsburgh afternoon — in a game twice delayed by lightning — the Steelers punctured any illusions that 2023 might be a season of growth and progress. Exhibiting the very same feckless offense which has been torturing Steelers Nation throughout this season, the Black-and-gold were defeated 24-10 by the lowly Arizona Cardinals before a mortified and waterlogged home crowd at Acrisure Stadium.

Pittsburgh managed only 3 points before Mitch Trubisky, playing in place of the injured Kenny Pickett, led a fourth quarter TD drive coming long after the outcome was decided. Considering that the Cardinals were 2-10 coming into the Steel City, this ugly collapse underscores the fact that the Steelers’ 2023 edition remains a team with deep-seated deficiencies unlikely to be resolved by season’s end.

In particular, Kenny Pickett’s play continues to disappoint. Prior to being knocked out of action at 5:32 of the second period, Pickett managed only to repeat his consistently troubling pattern of faltering in crucial, red-zone situations. Besides the offense’s pivotal failure on a 4th-and-goal play in the second quarter, the Steelers finished the game only 4-of-11 on third down conversions. By settling for a FG on their opening drive — then turning the ball over on downs at the Cardinals’ 1-yard line in the second quarter — Pickett’s offense squandered the opportunity to compile as many as 14 points in the first half instead of only 3.

As ineffective as Pickett has been this season and during the majority of the first half on Sunday, it seems both inevitable and necessary that the young quarterback would need to sit out for at least a couple of games. It should be abundantly clear by now that the Steelers won’t be going anywhere in the postseason, even if they happen to qualify for the playoffs by some stroke of luck. And if Pickett truly is destined to become the Steelers’ franchise QB, his development might actually benefit from a layoff and the feeling that he must compete to secure his position.

But beyond Pickett’s struggles, the Steelers’ entire organization appears to have reached a turning point. These past few weeks reveal that the once-proud Black-and-gold have devolved into a team which no longer matches up well against even last-place teams like the Cardinals or divisional opponents whose franchise QBs have been lost for the season. Under these circumstances, would anyone be willing to bet the ranch on a necessary Steelers win next Thursday against the equally troubled New England Patriots?

Having sustained some key injuries on defense as well, we might be watching a December Steelers team no longer capable of holding opponents at bay for its underachieving offense. It’s not too difficult to imagine that the ugliness we witnessed at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday might be only the beginning of a late-season collapse.

Overall, the 2023 Pittsburgh Steelers scarcely can claim to have evolved since opening day. As fans, we continue watching essentially the same ineffectual offense week after week while hoping in vain for a better result. We continue to see inexcusable, pre-snap penalties, wild snaps from Center and other careless penalties that put the team in difficult positions. After 12 games of the regular season, we’re still seeing mistakes which should have been substantially remedied during training camp and the preseason schedule.

Under ordinary circumstances, a team with a 7-5 record at this stage of the season would be deemed as occupying a promising position for a playoff berth. But those who have followed the Black-and-gold this season know better. From September through November, the Steelers rode along on a knife’s edge. But now that December’s crunch time has arrived, they give a strong indication they’re falling off of the blade.

In its present form, the Black-and-gold is just one more mediocre, NFL team struggling mightily with issues of coaching, preparation and consistency. Certainly, this bears no resemblance to the venerable standard which the organization has always touted. By contrast to the glory days when we always knew the Pittsburgh Steelers would find a way to get the job done, today we’re watching a team that we expect to fail — one that appears to be in general disarray without any clear roadmap to its destination.