Ugly loss to Cardinals changes perspective on game vs. Patriots, rest of Steelers' season

Thursday night’s Pittsburgh Steelers game against the New England Patriots was setting up to be something completely different than what it has become.

Prior to Sunday’s hideous home loss to the Arizona Cardinals, that game was lining up as the third consecutive win for the Steelers in the post-Matt Canada era. An opportunity to improve to 9-4. A chance to further cement a wild-card spot or even catch up to the Baltimore Ravens atop the AFC North.

Oh, and a moment to kick the long-reviled Patriots while they were down, sending them to 2-11.

Then Sunday happened.

Two weather delays. Two failed red zone trips. Two touchdowns from James Conner in his return game. And one steaming mess of a loss to what had been a two-win Cardinals team.

It was perhaps the worst regular-season home loss in Mike Tomlin’s 17 years as Steelers coach.

“Unfortunately, that tape didn’t look much different than it did in-stadium,” Tomlin said Monday afternoon. “Man, there were some areas where we failed miserably, and it produced the outcome.”

It was also a stark reminder of who the Steelers really are. It was never a team on the rise after winning in Cincinnati in Game 1 after firing Canada as offensive coordinator. That was just an offensive unit that had a rare good day against a bad defense while matching possessions with a backup quarterback making his first start.

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By the way, a “good day” for the offense meant putting up a whopping 16 points. And that backup quarterback, Jake Browning, just racked up 354 yards in a 34-31 win over the AFC South-leading Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday night in his second start. Now the Steelers have to face him again on Dec. 23.

They’ll likely be doing so with a backup quarterback of their own this time in Mitch Trubisky. He’s currently boasting a piddly 5.6 yards per pass attempt in 49 throws over three games this season and will be starting for a few weeks thanks to Kenny Pickett’s injured ankle.

“He has an outgoing and welcoming personality,” Tomlin said of Trubisky. “He’s a good communicator. He’s been a franchise quarterback before. He’s comfortable in those shoes. He doesn’t behave like a backup that’s being elevated.”

I’ll attempt to contain my enthusiasm.

It was comical to wake up Tuesday morning with Week 13 officially in the books and still see the Steelers atop the AFC wild-card race at 7-5. That standing belies this group’s reality. If this club can lose 24-10 at home to Arizona, it can lose to anyone.

Yes, even potentially to the limping Patriots, who have somehow managed to drop three straight games despite allowing just 10 points or less in each contest. Bill Belichick’s defense might shut out the Steelers’ anemic offense and win the game 2-0.

“They’re doing an awesome job keeping scores down,” Tomlin said of the Patriots defense. “They are multiple on the back end. They play a variety of zones and bogus zones. They play man-to-man. They bring pressure. They do four-man rush in man-to-man. They do a really good job, particularly in situational moments, in terms of some of the schematics in the secondary.”

That’s more than can be said for a Steelers defense that allowed Arizona to march 99 yards on a key scoring drive in the second quarter Sunday — not to mention totaling 150 yards rushing and 10 third-down conversions.

Don’t look now, but Thursday night may be the breakout game for quarterback Bailey Zappe. Or Mac Jones. Or maybe Doug Flutie, Scott Secules or Hugh Millen, if any of them are kicking around.

Indeed, that Arizona defeat has changed the entire season’s perspective. No longer can we assume the Steelers had turned the corner after Canada’s firing and were en route to 10 or 11 wins and a playoff spot. They are, once again, clearly a team that can lose to anybody at any time in any venue.

Yes, they might even fall to this iteration of the Patriots at home this week.

As if we haven’t seen that happen enough when it was much better editions of both teams.

Listen: Tim Benz and Joe Rutter discuss the state of the Steelers after their bad loss to the Cardinals on Sunday.