The Pittsburgh Steelers looked like legitimate Super Bowl contenders through the first half of the 2020 season, racing out to an 11-0 start and appearing destined for a deep playoff run. Instead, the season unraveled down the stretch, culminating in a stunning 48-37 Wild Card loss to the Cleveland Browns.
According to former Steelers tight end Eric Ebron, the collapse may have stemmed from a significant issue that wasn’t publicly known at the time.
Speaking on The Raw Room podcast, Ebron recalled a meeting
called by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger during the season, where the veteran signal-caller revealed just how much his physical limitations were impacting the offense.
“We had a meeting,” Ebron said. “Ben called all the starters into the meeting and he was like, ‘Fellas my knees are getting bad and I’m not going to be able to get under center.‘”
The admission immediately raised concerns for Ebron about what it would mean for the offense moving forward.
“So I go, ‘We’re one dimensional? We’re about to run out of shotgun, and pass out of shotgun. [That] makes it very obvious for the defense,‘” Ebron said.
As the season progressed, opponents appeared to adjust accordingly.
“They figured out we went one dimensional and Ben wasn’t getting under center,” Ebron said. “They started sending the house.”
Roethlisberger was 38 years old during the 2020 campaign and was just one year removed from major elbow surgery. Combined with a patchwork offensive line that was no longer among the league’s elite, Pittsburgh’s offense struggled to maintain the balance that fueled its hot start.
After opening the year 11-0, the Steelers lost four of their final five regular-season games before being eliminated by Cleveland in the playoffs. The offense, once among the NFL’s most productive units, became increasingly predictable as the season wore on.
Ebron’s revelation offers a possible explanation for why one of the most promising Steelers teams of the Roethlisberger era faded so quickly. What appeared from the outside to be a late-season slump may have been the result of a quarterback battling through physical limitations that forced Pittsburgh to abandon a significant portion of its offensive playbook.
Ultimately, 2020 proved to be the final realistic opportunity for postseason success with Roethlisberger under center, as the future Hall of Famer retired following the 2021 season.
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