After stellar start with Steelers, Wilson’s struggles contributing to 3-game skid

Russell Wilson quickly became a Pittsburgh sensation, in part because of his deft and visually pleasing “moon ball” throws.

But after three mediocre performances, is the honeymoon over between Wilson and Steelers fans?

Wilson directed the Steelers to six wins in his first seven starts, flashing form that had made him one of the NFL’s biggest stars of the past decade. But while he and the Steelers were riding high at 10-3 a third of the way through December, three decisive losses over an 11-day span tarnished what had the appearance of a highly promising season and took some of the shine off Wilson’s stature with his new team.

“Our belief can’t waver,” Wilson said after the most recent loss, 29-10 to the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day. “As a matter of fact, if anything, we’ve got to turn it up even more on our belief, and I think that’s a key part to how we respond in the midst of adversity.

“The adversity can break you down. The adversity can challenge you in such a way that you start thinking negatively, start speaking negatively, start thinking woe is me, this or that. Or the adversity can challenge you in such a way that there’s growth, and then adversity can challenge you in such a way that you try to find the next moment.”

For the Steelers, “the next moment” is a meeting with the Cincinnati Bengals in the regular-season finale this weekend. Perhaps that will be the tonic for an offense that scored a season-high 44 points in Week 13 against Cincinnati. Combined with a 2714 victory at home against the Cleveland Browns the following week, the Steelers had won seven of eight until this recent threegame swoon.

Against the Bengals on Dec. 1, Wilson had season highs in passing yards (414), passer rating (126.4), touchdown passes (three, tied), yards per attempt (10.9) and completion percentage (76.3%).

Wilson had more completions of 25 or more yards that game (four) than he had during all three of the Steelers’ current losses combined (three).

While Wilson went 6-1 out of the gate as the starter, he had a 103.9 passer rating, averaged 8.38 yards per attempt, had a 12to-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio and was responsible for five turnovers.

Wilson has four turnovers alone over the past three games, and his passer rating (82.2), yards per attempt (5.98) and TD:INT ratio (3:2) have taken significant nosedives.

“You don’t want to hit adversity, but we’ve got a playoff spot locked up, trying to win the division, trying to win a game,” Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said last week when asked about Wilson’s recent struggles. “It’s easy for everybody to be great vibes and everybody smiling when you’re winning, but you’re going to find out a lot about us in how we respond. That’s the truth of the matter.”

A big part of the problem? Wilson’s signature “moon ball” deep passes have virtually disappeared from the offensive attack. In part because star receiver George Pickens missed three recent games — including losses at the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens on Dec. 15 and Dec. 21, respectively — Wilson has not been faring well with deep passes the past three games.

According to Pro Football Focus, Wilson over his first seven starts was 19 for 34 (55.9%) with five touchdowns and one interception and a 128.1 passer rating on throws that traveled at least 20 yards downfield.

During the three-game losing streak, Wilson is only 3 for 9 (33.3%) with no touchdowns and an interception for a 42.4 passer rating on such deep throws.

All is not lost, of course. A victory against Cincinnati this weekend could improve the Steelers’ playoff seeding. A win on wildcard weekend would all but render the three-game slump but a forgotten blip on the radar.

“I really believe in who we are, the character of guys, the mentality that we have,” Wilson said. “It’s been a tough road, obviously, the past three weeks, and we haven’t been able to overcome some of the challenges along the way. That’s going to be … we’ve got to make that a good thing for us.

“At the end of the day when you look back at it all and when we get the chance to play in the playoffs, it becomes 0-0. You know what I mean? That’s the truth of the playoffs and the opportunity that we have.”