After the Steelers lost their fourth straight game Saturday night, Russell Wilson didn't want to talk about the past. And ESPN's Scott Van Pelt didn't seem thrilled with the veteran QB's comments.
During a postgame segment on “SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt,” the network aired a clip of Wilson's postgame press conference, in which Wilson addressed Pittsburgh's spiral to end the regular season and said, “We've got some tough numbers.” He said the Steelers need to stay focused on adjusting and resetting for the playoffs.
“I don't want to talk too much about the past because I think we've been in that situation here for a little while,” Wilson said. “I think the best thing we can do is prepare for the playoffs. It's a new season. That's all that really matters at this point.”
But after Van Pelt and NFL analyst Ryan Clark disputed Wilson's comments, the longtime anchor criticized the 36-year-old quarterback for not wanting to talk about what went wrong.
“It's our job to talk about the past,” Van Pelt said.
“I think that makes a lot of sense right now,” Clark, a former Steelers defensive back, replied.
“We're not talking about 19-year-olds. We're not talking about the Great Depression,” Van Pelt continued. “We're talking about the game you just lost. That's four in a row.”
Wilson completed 17 of 31 passes for 148 yards and one touchdown against the Bengals, but had just 2,482 passing yards, 16 touchdowns, and an interception in 11 games during his first campaign in Pittsburgh. It was only 5 times.
Justin Fields started the Steelers' first six games, while Wilson recovered from a calf injury (Wilson missed five games, then was a reserve for the final game) and led Pittsburgh to a 4-2 record.
Wilson then returned to action and helped the Steelers win four more games, providing early evidence that the change of scenery after two disastrous years with the Broncos was paying off.
But over Pittsburgh's last seven games, Wilson managed just 1,540 passing yards, averaging just 220 yards per game and 10 touchdowns.
A tearjerker in the season opener helped the Steelers clinch a postseason berth, but after competing for one of the AFC's top seeds, they will now survive the playoffs away from Acresure Stadium. They need to — they'll play either of them against the No. 4 Texans. If the Chargers lose, they will play in the wild card round, and if Los Angeles wins against the Raiders, they will face the third-place Ravens in the AFC North showdown.
And regardless of which scenario ultimately comes to pass, the questions surrounding the slide — what happened in December, how the Steelers managed to keep this version of themselves under wraps for so long — More simply, questions about the past will not fade into the background until the government makes an announcement. The Steelers won.
