Since the Steelers Week 17 game vs. the Chiefs at Acrisure Stadium on Wednesday was actually Christmas Day, let me mention Scrooge.

You know how the ghost of Christmas Future showed him his tombstone near the end?

Yeah, that.

Pittsburgh’s 29-10 shellacking at the hands of the world-champion Chiefs was the third such shellacking in 11 days. It was also the first time the Steelers lost three games in a row by double digits since 1986. In case you forgot (and how is that possible when talking about three games in a week and a half?), Pittsburgh fell to the Eagles by a score of 27-13 on December 15; that game wasn’t exactly as close as the score indicated. Then, there was the 34-17 loss to the Ravens on December 21; maybe a bit closer than the score indicated but not that close.

Finally, we had the Christmas miracle, where the Steelers were only defeated by 19 instead of maybe a million.

It never felt as if Kansas City was in danger of losing on Wednesday. Sure, the Steelers cut the champs’ 13-0 start to a 16-10 advantage on a Chris Boswell 36-yard field goal with 5:45 left in the third period, but the champs were likely just bored by that point. They then showed it by dominating the fourth period by a score of 13-0.

If you’re keeping score at home (and I know you are), the Steelers just faced three of the best teams the NFL has to offer–squads that are all Super Bowl favorites–and got trounced by a combined total of 90-40.

True, the offense could have done better and been more effective at scoring and not turning the football over at key moments, but the defense could have been more skilled at not getting dominated at the line of scrimmage and in the secondary.

Speaking of 90, where has T.J. Watt been? We haven’t seen much of him since he punched the football from Jalen Hurts’s grasp in the first game of this 11-day death stretch.

Maybe it’s unfair to blame Watt, but he gets paid the most, so he has to do the most. We have no problem blaming Russell Wilson and his recent struggles. He gets paid a lot, too, just not by the Steelers. Maybe that’s why we were lulled into complacency as Wilson led Pittsburgh to six victories in seven starts against teams other than the Eagles, Ravens, and Chiefs.

Now that Wilson has faced three of the better quarterbacks in the NFL, it’s probably safe to say he’s closer to an okay veteran quarterback than he is his 2019 self, a level that would place him near the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Hurts.

Actually, in fairness to Wilson, he didn’t just face three of the better quarterbacks in the NFL, Watt and that supposedly elite defense did.

It wasn’t pretty, not pretty at all.

Where do the Steelers go from here? I’m guessing they’ll go home and lick their wounds for a bit. They have a mini-bye before the final regular-season game vs. the Bengals at Acrisure Stadium on January 5.

The AFC North will still be up for grabs that day, but the Steelers are no longer in the driver’s seat to clinch it. Much like the past several Week 18s, Pittsburgh will have to win and get some help from a team in another stadium (the Browns).

Thankfully, that help will be for a division title and not a playoff spot.

A postseason berth was wrapped up a long time ago…for what that’s worth at the moment.

Speaking of which, indulge me as I revisit my original Scrooge theme: The Steelers postseason tombstone will likely read, “Here lies your Pittsburgh Steelers: September 8, 2024-January 11/12/13 (maybe they can hang on until Monday Night (playoff) Football), 2025.”

Sure, there’s more to Scrooge, but that’s fiction. The 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers are not.