The Pittsburgh Steelers started off the 2020 NFL season 11-0, and at the time many believed they were headed for a deep playoff run and possibly even a Super Bowl appearance. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh and then-head coach Mike Tomlin, the bottom eventually fell out during a late-season collapse. It began in Week 13 when Pittsburgh lost to the Washington Commanders and saw its undefeated streak come to an end. The Steelers then dropped three more games and finished the regular season 12-4, though they still managed to win the AFC North title.
Peter Diana / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Steelers former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger sits on the bench with his head down after a playoff loss.
One of the rare times the Cleveland Browns got the better of Pittsburgh came in that season’s AFC Wild Card matchup, when the Steelers quickly fell behind 28-0. Pittsburgh fought back but ultimately could not complete the comeback, making its remarkable 11-0 start feel virtually meaningless in the end. The Steelers’ defense remained elite for most of the season, but an injury to former star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger ultimately helped derail everything.
What many Steelers fans knew at the time, but perhaps did not fully understand the severity of, was that Roethlisberger suffered hyperextension injuries in both knees during a Week 9 game against the Dallas Cowboys. As the season wore on, the wear and tear on his knees, combined with the hits he continued taking, clearly added up. Former Steelers tight end Eric Ebron recently explained on the Raw Room podcast how the team tried to manage the situation and even revealed that Roethlisberger called a secret meeting to let teammates know just how badly his knees were hurting.
"We was snapping," Ebron said. "We had a meeting. Ben called all the starters into the meeting. He was like, 'Fellas, my knees is getting bad. I'm not gonna be able to get up under center.' I go, 'We're one-dimensional.' We're about to run from shotgun and pass from shotgun. Makes it very obvious for the defense... We turn one-dimensional. I'm like, 'Cool, we kind of been shotgun the whole time. We should be straight, right?' We forget these [other players] get paid, too. They figured out we went one-dimensional and Ben wasn't getting under center? They started sending everything. Realized [Roethlisberger] couldn't move. We was cooked."
If Roethlisberger had stayed healthy that season, many Steelers fans still wonder whether the outcome could have been different. Hearing the story from Ebron now only highlights how tough Roethlisberger truly was and what he managed to play through during the collapse of Pittsburgh’s once-promising 2020 campaign.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger stiff arms an oncoming Houston Texans defender during a regular season game in 2020.
Looking back now, it honestly explains so much about why the Steelers offense completely fell apart down the stretch that season. Early in the year Pittsburgh was able to hide some of its issues because Roethlisberger was still moving around enough and getting the ball out quickly. Once his knees got worse though, defenses stopped respecting almost everything the Steelers wanted to do offensively.
Steelers Got Unlucky At The Wrong Time In 2020 Season
Teams knew Pittsburgh was living out of the shotgun and that Roethlisberger was not going to escape pressure or extend plays. That allowed defenses to tee off on the offensive line and sit on short passing concepts that had carried the offense earlier in the season. It also helps explain why the Steelers looked so flat and overwhelmed against Cleveland in the playoffs despite starting the year looking like one of the NFL’s best teams.
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Former Steelers HC Mike Tomlin during a game.
For Steelers fans, Ebron’s comments provide a completely different perspective on that collapse and just how much Roethlisberger was battling physically behind the scenes. Maybe Tomlin would have had a different playoff record had he been fortunate enough to have Roethlisberger at 100% down the stretch of that season.
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