Steelers Need To Get Run Game Going In Back Half Of The Season
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Coming off a big win against their rival, the Cleveland Browns, the Steelers are once again over .500 and sitting third in the AFC North with a record of 4-3.
As the team gets ready to take on the Bears in a Monday Night Football matchup at Heinz Field, many believe that as the season progresses, the Steelers need to focus on getting the run game established in order to stay in the win column.
"Pittsburgh is rushing for only 86 yards per game and that's fifth-worst in the league," said NFL On CBS contributor Amy Trask. "Yes, I know there's been games in which they've done better and there's been some improvement over the season."
Trask said this is more than just a current season issue.
In 2020, the Steelers were at the bottom of the league at 84.4 yards per game.
2019 wasn't much better fourth-worst with just over 90 yards per game.
"This is not a one-season problem that the Steelers are having," she said.
As the team's quarterback is only in his second season coming off of a major injury to his arm, Trask believes it's important to establish a ground game in order to take some of the pressure off of Ben Roethlisberger.
"Ben Roethlisberger coming off the injury he had, you want to do everything you can to run that ball and take the pressure off of Ben," she said. "It all works together, the better your running game, the more the defense has to respect that and the more breathing room it gives your passing game."
It makes it all the more confusing to Trask that the Steelers are where they are in regard to the running game, considering the franchise's identity coupled with the division they are in.
"This is the AFC North, this is a division where it's rough-and-tumble, so this inability to run the ball well, it's not just one season, it goes back, 18, 19, 20, and now 21, and I think the Steelers need to figure that out."
Despite low numbers of rushing yards per game, rookie running back Najee Harris was recently named the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Month for October, scoring four touchdowns in four games.
The Steelers and Bears will kick off on Monday night at Heinz Field at 8:15 p.m.
