“Russell Wilson Hasn’t Played Well in the Last Couple of Weeks”: Shannon Sharpe Opens Up About the Biggest Weakness of the Steelers

This year’s Christmas was far from merry for Russell Wilson and the Steelers, as the Chiefs outplayed them comprehensively in their 29-10 victory at Acrisure Stadium. Considering many expected the game to be a tight affair, the Steelers’ easy dismantling has set off alarm bells in Steelers Nation.

Luckily for them, Shannon Sharpe has already found the chink in Steelers’ armor — the overreliance on the QB position. Unlike the Dolphins and the 49ers who play within a well-defined system, the Steelers are an outfit where the QB plays a fundamental role in their success, the former tight end noted.

The whole isn’t greater than the sum of its parts for the Steelers, and this, according to Shannon Sharpe, is where the problem lies. As the Nightcap host noted, Russell Wilson hasn’t played well in a couple of weeks and unsurprisingly, Pittsburgh has lost their last three matchups.

“Russell Wilson was 23 of 37, and 205 yards thrown. He didn’t play well. Russ hasn’t played well in the last couple of weeks and this team is not good enough to overcome poor play at the quarterback position.”

Interestingly enough, the Nightcap theorized that the heightened QB relevance in the Steelers setup is why Justin Fields was replaced midway by an experienced Russell Wilson. While Shannon wasn’t critical of the switch, he did note that if the QB doesn’t play well in the crucial moments, even the best of the best can’t save this Steelers franchise.

Sharpe also wondered if the Steelers cornered themselves without addressing these concerns, as chopping and changing QBs at the business end of the tournament isn’t a sound plan.

“That’s why they made the switch to Russ (despite) winning games. But it’s a struggle when your quarterback doesn’t play well because now you’re in these nail biters and you got to go Nip/Tuck Nip/Tuck Nip/Tuck.”

That said, Shannon chose not to be overly critical of Russell Wilson, pointing out that his teammates weren’t perfect either. Whether it was producing turnovers, including a crucial fumble by Pat Freiermuth, the Nightcap host argued that to defeat the Chiefs, opponents need to be nearly perfect — a memo that the entire Steelers unit seemed to have missed.

“Steelers had two turnovers that definitely took points off the board because they were already in field goal range… so the interception that Reed got took points off the board. Now we don’t know how that would have turned out if they could have held on to that ball that Pat Freiermuth fumbled, but when you play against the Chiefs… you still got to play damn near perfect.”

Luckily for the Steelers, their talisman is someone who has shown immense pedigree on the biggest of stages. If anyone can avoid being bogged down by pressure and turn things around from here, it’s Russell Wilson.