4 Pittsburgh Steelers to blame after Chiefs loss kills AFC North chances

That's certainly not what the Pittsburgh Steelers were hoping to see when they looked under the tree at Acrisure Stadium for Christmas Day. They came into the matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs still alive to win the AFC North, even after two straight losses, including last Saturday's to the rival Ravens. A win over Kansas City, though, would've kept them in it.

It became clear early on, however, that a win just might not be coming. Not only did the Chiefs take an early lead while Russell Wilson and the offense took some time to get anything rolling but things just looked discombobulated for the majority of this game. Nothing ever quite got right for Pittsburgh, which led to a disheartening 29-10 loss and fully relinquishing control of the AFC North.

The Steelers' chances of winning the division aren't officially dead yet but they may well be on life support now. A performance like that leading to such catastrophic results should mean that some players need to take some accountability. And we know exactly who deserves the most blame.

4. Patrick Queen got picked on dropping into coverage

It was a bit of a mixed bag for Patrick Queen on Wednesday afternoon. The linebacker was actually quite good when asked to step up and come downhill to defend the run. That's a good thing, without question, and in many weeks, it would've put a real damper on what the Chiefs offense was trying to get done. However, with Kansas City shifting away from the run a bit more than they have, we also saw the big flaw with Queen's game.

Queen registered the second-worst coverage grade of any Steelers defender in the Week 17 matchup, being unable to keep up with the Chiefs tight ends and crossers over the middle. He was targeted six times in coverage and gave up five catches for 58 yards. What's more concerning about that is nearly 40 of those yards came after the catch, which is an even bigger indictment of how badly the linebacker got burned when he was asked to drop back.

The first season in Pittsburgh has been a bit of a rollercoaster for Queen throughout the year and this performance was definitely one of several valleys.

3. Pat Freiermuth was quietly a problem for the Pittsburgh offense

This might be surprising to see tight end Pat Freiermuth on this list considering that he led the team in receiving quite handily. And to be sure, the veteran deserves some credit for hauling in seven of his eight targets on the day for 60 yards, all of which were team highs. At the same time, though, it was the errors he made that were just egregiously costly.

The biggest of those errors, of course, was a lost fumble that felt like the end of the line for the Steelers in the second half. Freiermuth did a poor job of protecting the football by carrying the ball on his inside arm as he went toward the sidelines, which allowed Trent McDuffie to punch it out and force the turnovers. That flipped the game in itself but there was more to Freiermuth letting Pittsburgh down.

While the Steelers ran the ball well on the whole in this game, Freiermuth was a problem when asked to get uphill and block, registering the worst run-blocking grade of any player on the offense according to PFF's initial data ($). Combine that with a brutal turnover, and Pittsburgh needs better from their TE1.

2. Donte Jackson had no chance against the Chiefs receivers

There were plenty of things that the Steelers defense could've done better, specifically it would've been great to see a better gameplan to mitigate Mahomes and the Chiefs offense getting the ball out quick. At the same time, though, it's hard not to look at this game and how things played out and not think that Donte Jackson playing better in coverage would've been the biggest help.

With Joey Porter Jr. out for this game due to injury, Jackson was put in a tough spot, especially when tasked with matching up against the likes of speedsters Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown. And unfortunatley, he stood absolutely no chance against them. According to the initial data from PFF ($), Jackson was targeted five times in coverage and gave up five catches for 91 yards and a passer rating allowed just over 118. Not great!

For as often as the Chiefs offense has been stop-and-go this season, that wasn't the case on Christmas Day. And Jackson's issues in sticking with the speed Kansas City has at receiver was a big factor in allowing that from Mahomes and Co.

1. Russell Wilson forgot his chef's apron at home

If Russell Wilson is going to be doing any cooking on Christmas Day, it's not going to be at Acrisure Stadium but, rather, at home. The Steelers quarterback struggled mightily against the Chiefs and, while part of that was being hung out to dry by some poor receiving play and other parts of it were the offensive line not holding up as well as he surely would've liked, the simple truth of the matter is that he wasn't good enough as the team's on-field general.

Wilson finished the game going 23-of-37 for only 205 yards and, though he did use his legs to get 55 yards and a touchdown, he was unable to get much really going otherwise. He ate five sacks throughout the loss and threw and awful pick to Justin Reid early in the first half when the game was still well in reach and the Steelers were driving.

The hope coming into this game was that the return of George Pickens would revitalize the Pittsburgh offense. Unfortunately, we didn't see a bit of that. While the Chiefs defense is certainly a formidable foe, it was an ill-timed stinker from Wilson.