Nov 13, 2016 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – There were more long faces in the Steelers’ locker room following their 35-30 loss Sunday to the Dallas Cowboys than on the paintings in an art gallery.

With three lead changes in the final two minutes, and four in the final 7:51, this game had more twists and turns than a highway through the Swiss Alps.

And the Steelers came out on the losing side.

It was a game reminiscent of Pittsburgh’s 18-16 playoff win at Cincinnati last January in terms of the gut-wrenching fashion.

But unlike the Bengals in that game, the Steelers won’t have a whole offseason on which to chew on this loss.

They need to move on, and they need to move on now.

Yes, they have lost four games in a row. Yes, they are not playing good football. But the reality is, despite all of that, they will walk into Cleveland Browns Stadium next Sunday only one game out of first place, behind a Baltimore team that also suffered through a four-game losing streak this season.

“It’s a hole we put ourselves in,” said defensive end Cameron Heyward. “We’ve got Cleveland next week, but shoot, we’ve got to get a lot better. That was unacceptable.”

Unacceptable is a term that’s been thrown around a lot over the past month by the Steelers. Each time they lose a game, something has happened that the coaching staff or players deem unacceptable.

But here’s the rub: While nobody is accepting missed tackles, penalties, poor offensive play or botched special teams play, they keep happening.

That can only lead us to surmise that maybe this team just isn’t that good.

But that doesn’t seem to be the answer, either.

When the offense plays well, as it did Sunday, the defense does not. When the defense plays well, as it did two weeks ago in a 21-14 loss at Baltimore, the offense doesn’t hold up its end.

The good thing is that this team cares.

That’s why there were so many long faces in the locker room following what a number of players called a devastating defeat.

“I’m going crazy,” said defensive end Stephon Tuitt. “We’ve got a lot of talented players and to lose four in a row sucks. It’s not healthy. It’s not healthy for anybody. Everybody is feeling it. Everybody is feeling the hurt and pain, the letdown. It sucks.”

That’s certainly the case. Fans are feeling that pain as well. Steelers fans took this loss harder than Democrats took last week’s presidental election.

No, there wasn’t any rioting in the streets but the pain is palpable. The expectations for this team were well beyond what has happened.

Nobody expected the Steelers to be 4-5. Nobody expected a four-game losing streak after the team was 4-1.

Then again, nobody expected the Cowboys to go 75 yards in 33 seconds to get the game-winning touchdown run.

“We can sit here and preach it but we’ve got to do it,” said Heyward. “Forty-two seconds should not be enough time for them to go down the field. We knew what they had. They had three timeouts. We’ve got to keep them inbounds, make good tackles. We’ve got to get pressure. It was just unacceptable by the defense. It falls on me and goes all the way down.”

And up, as well.

The Steelers need to take a good hard look at what they’re doing and who they are doing it with.

They’re not going to make any coaching changes, folks, despite what those on social media say. But lineup or scheme changes? Why not?

Then again, with the way it seems to be something different every week, head coach Mike Tomlin has to feel like he’s continually plugging holes with this team.

It’s a more talented team that 4-5 suggests, but 4-5 is where the Steelers are.

Quitting, however, won’t be an option. This is a team with a lot of pride. And that pride has been hurt. This team’s resolve is being tested.

You can talk about learning from these kind of things all you want, but the NFL is all about winning. The Cowboys are doing it with a rookie quarterback and a rookie running back. They’re getting a ton of learning experience – and winning.

“We can sit here and say it’s a great learning example, but learning doesn’t get you wins,” Heyward said. “We no longer can keep doing that.”

Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.