Dec 7, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; New England Patriots running back Ezekiel Elliott (15) runs the ball against Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick (39) during the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
A couple of weeks ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers sat at 7-4 with games against the Cardinals and Patriots coming up. It looked like they had the dream scenario for a team fighting for the playoffs. That dream has quickly turned into a nightmare. After getting blown out by the Cardinals, the Patriots offense exploded in the first half and hung on to win. After the game, star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick had some strong words for his team.
Pittsburgh Steelers Minkah Fitzpatrick Calls Out Teammates
“In order to see the fruit, you’ve gotta toil for it. I think too many people don’t want to toil for it. They just want to walk out here and think that they’re going to make plays and think that they’re going to perform at a high level. I think we need to have more people who want to work for it, not expect it to be handed to them.
“This is the NFL. Nothing’s handed to you. You got to earn everything. I think that dudes just think that because they’re wearing the black and gold, that they’re going to win games, and I think we need to check that mentality and make people realize that they got to earn that mentality, and they got to earn every single blade of grass, every single splash play and every single rep that they get out there. They got to earn it.”
The team did look very lethargic coming out of the gate and couldn’t come back on a team that scored zero points last week. Something has to change for this team or they could easily be out of the playoff picture.
Not Done Yet
The silver lining is the team isn’t out of the playoff race completely. However, the road becomes much more difficult. Many good teams are lurking in the hunt and would love to nab a wild card spot. The last two games were supposed to give the Steelers a cushion for their final games. Now, there is little margin for error. They are going to have to fix a lot of problems in a short amount of time.
Minkah Fitzpatrick thinks it starts with mentality. Whatever it is, the Pittsburgh Steelers need to figure it out and fast.
Matthew Brown is a sports and pop culture enthusiast who loves to tell a great story. He mostly writes about the Green Bay Packers and the Michigan Wolverines but loves the game of football and will talk about any team any time. He also runs a pop culture website, Sorcerer Network and cohosts 2 podcasts, Beers and Ears and Discontinued on Display.