ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Steelers’ locker room has sometimes felt erratic this season. After their loss in Cleveland, it was clear change had to occur, and it did when offensive coordinator Matt Canada was fired. It felt loose and confident over the last three weeks leading up to their playoff loss in Buffalo, and the team looked like they believed they could make a run.
But Monday’s locker room was different. Throughout an odd season that ended with the team still going 10-7 and making the postseason but nowhere closer to having the answer at quarterback or winning a playoff game for the first time since 2016, pent-up frustrations were how it felt. It was an accumulation of an odd season that does not feel replicable.
This was my first time covering a playoff game, so the atmosphere here was a little different. You will be disappointed. It’s natural, and because the season is over and the ultimate goal has not been achieved all of those players, the locker room feels as somber as it has all season. But that’s not what I picked up in this Steelers locker room. It felt like the winds of change were moving. As I said earlier, these players are not stupid. They know what plagued much of their season.
Harris called out a lack of in-house discipline and commitment from the team.
“In-house rules. Not no changes or coaches or anything like that. Just the rules that are in the building,” Harris said. “We’ve got to be more disciplined. We’ve got to be more committed. I’m not saying that we’re not, but coming from a place that has structure and coming and just seeing, we could probably get help in these areas; make a change. I think that’s something that could help. I’m not saying anything about coaches or anything like that; I’m saying in-house rules.”
This is the type of frustration that requires change. I don’t think it’s the type of change calling for the coach to be changed. That’s now what this feels like, but it does feel like one where the group is not on the same page and views the problems as very fixable. Haris seemed frustrated because he had also talked to the rest of his teammates about those very issues this year.
The temperature needs self-reflection, and the Steelers franchise as a whole needs that reflection moving forward. If you don’t win a playoff game in seven years, something has to change within the organization.