Pittsburgh Steelers 2021 NFL Season Analysis

The Pittsburgh Steelers found a way to be relevant in the 2021 NFL Season despite obvious weaknesses on offense and defense. They were coming off a year in which they were the worst team generating rushing yards and they tried to fix it with a personnel change at running back, but they didn’t put much effort into doing the same with the downed offensive line.

The defense has players who are among the best at their position in the league, but there’s a difference from the rest of the defense, depending on the good plays you get from TJ Watt, Cam Heyward and Minkah Fitzpatrick. And the coaching staff did what they could – even more than necessary – to help the team get more wins than expected, which ended up getting them into the 2022 NFL Wild Card Round.

This is the analysis of the 2021 NFL Season of the Pittsburgh Steelers

The 2021 Steelers Season

The Steelers’ season started off with a surprise in Buffalo, where the offense couldn’t find an effective way to generate points, but the defense and special teams were able to keep the game close and contribute points. It looked like the Bills were off to an easy start to the season and were disappointed at home.

Confident of beating a Conference contender in Week 1, it looked encouraging to face the Raiders and Bengals at home, but the offense had the same problems as in Week 1 and couldn’t win. Then followed a more complicated rival like the Packers as visitors and once again they could not exceed 17 points from their offense. Three consecutive defeats began to generate many doubts, especially with what Ben Roethlisberger showed and his lack of ground dominance with the quality of Najee Harris.

But after that 1-3 start came four straight wins, three of them at home and only against the Broncos with a score difference of more than one score. The rest were not easy wins because they beat the Seahawks in overtime, after their bye week they faced the Browns in Cleveland where, after trailing by three quarters, they were able to turn it around in the last one to win, and then they beat rookie Justin Fields’ Bears on Chris Boswell’s late field goal.

The COVID infection occurred in their veteran quarterback, so they faced the team without victories until then, the Lions, with Mason Rudolph, and that game ended in a tie, which at first aroused criticism and even ridicule, but that over time he proved his worth because the Lions were a difficult team in the season and that tie meant the difference for a pass to the postseason.

After this, Roethlisberger returned to face the Chargers, who scored 41 points and despite the fact that the offense woke up at the end, it was not enough for them. The Bengals were the next rival and they repeated the dose from the previous week with 41 points, but the Steelers had no response capacity.

With a 5-5-1 record in Week 12, nothing looked good heading into the playoffs. But they found a way to beat the Ravens twice, beat the Browns again and upset the Titans. The Vikings beat them although in the end thanks to a good defensive play they managed to secure the game and against the Chiefs they couldn’t do anything.

For the last week they needed to beat Tyler Huntley’s Ravens, which was just what they did and wait for a miracle in Jacksonville in which the Colts had to lose and of course, without a draw in the Chargers vs. Raiders duel to advance to the playoffs. And it was granted.

Big Ben, who declared that his game against the Browns in Pittsburgh was going to be the last of his career and it seemed that the game in Baltimore would be the last time we would see him, had the opportunity to say goodbye in the playoffs, just as he began in his year of rookie. Although the defense showed resistance early on, when the Chiefs made up their minds, they ran over them and were eliminated.

A season of ups and downs, joys and disappointments, hope and doom, the Steelers showed they need to enter a stage we haven’t seen them in a long time: Rebuilding.

Pittsburgh’s MVP of the 2021 Season

OLB TJ Watt

22.5 sacks to tie Michael Strahan’s record in the regular season and one more in the playoff game against the Chiefs is the balance this year of TJ Watt who raised his hand for his team. Considering that due to injury he had to be left out of some games like week 3 against the Bengals and 11 against the Chargers. In addition, Watt caused five fumbles that gave his team the opportunity to generate points.

I’m sure his performance this season will earn him Defensive Player of the Year nomination. The Steelers need to surround him with better talent to get back to having a dominant defense.

Do you want to buy something special from the Steelers?

Finds the best articles; from the classic merchandise from Primero and Diez, to pieces of autographed memorabilia, in addition to items from your favorite team.

If you’re looking for something you can’t find, question for him and we will do our best to achieve it.

Get in now: store.primerydiez.com

The best moment of the 2021 Steelers season

The outlook for week 15 was one of great uncertainty in terms of the playoffs for the Steelers and a loss to the Titans, a rival in turn and apparently with a better level than them, would have buried their hopes. We knew at that time of the instability of the offense and little effectiveness to generate points, so Pittsburgh needed a good defensive performance to get the victory.

And it was just like that, with defense. They started down by 10 points, but the defense put pressure on Tannehill, getting sacks, causing errors and giving the offense a chance to generate what it needed to win. And yes, the Titans were lacking a lot, especially on their offense, but with Mike Vrabel they’re a team that can find creative ways to make up for it. Without a doubt, the best moment of the year for the Steelers that helped them in the end to sneak into the Divisional Round.

The worst moment of the 2021 Pittsburgh Season

This Week 12 game was a showcase of what many of these Steelers were wondering about. An offense that, far from producing, generated turnovers and points against (such as Mike Hilton’s pick six over Ben Roethlisberger) and a defense that, when it made good plays, was of little use.

The Bengals in this game took the baton from the division, giving the NFL reasons why they are a team to consider for big things not just this season, but for years to come. Unfortunately the Steelers were swept in the series against the rival they dominated for a long time in Ben Roethlisberger.

What is expected of the Steelers in the 2022 Season?

There are many doubts that the Steelers leave for their next season because they will not have Roethlisberger, their offensive line is not the best for the QB that comes and will have to improve so that the workload for Najee Harris is really taken advantage of. The challenge will not be easy, and

Many see them being aggressive looking for a veteran quarterback, but I have a lot of doubts that they are because it is not their style, although it will probably change due to the fact that Kevin Colbert could leave his position as General Manager, which would bring considerable changes in the way they are played. manages the team, both in the Draft, Free Agency and in the coaching staff.

And the challenge will be greater when we see the Bengals taking control of the division, the Ravens being able to return to a good level recovering their injuries and some Browns who are one good QB away from being competitive. I don’t think they’ll get on the contenders’ radar anytime soon, but resiliency is part of this team.

Do not miss the analysis of the 2021 NFL Season of all the teams: