The Pittsburgh Steelers were only up 3-0 after the first quarter against the Houston Texans on Monday night, but based on how the previous six playoff games had gone, it felt like 300-0.

In the first quarters of those six most recent playoff games (all losses) the Steelers gave up 73 points and scored none. So anything short of being in a huge hole after the first 15 minutes felt like a win.

From there, it all went south.

The Steelers only accounted for one more field goal and lost 30-6.

That’s seven straight playoff losses. They’ve been down big or ended up blown out in every one of them.

This was a home Monday night game — something they hadn’t lost since 1991 — against a club that had never won a road playoff game. They were hosting a southern, indoor team in 32-degree weather. They were division champs, with a loud crowd behind them, coming off a huge win against Baltimore.

There were plenty of reasons to believe that this playoff contest was going to turn out differently from the previous six defeats.

It most certainly did not.

It ended up simply being a different version of the same thing. Just like every season since their AFC Championship Game trip to end the 2016 campaign.

“I haven’t had the answer for a long time, so don’t ask me,” linebacker T.J. Watt said.

Mike Tomlin doesn’t have the answer either. Neither does Omar Khan. Neither does Art Rooney II.

Especially when changing the head coach apparently isn’t one of those options.

So instead of starting to fix problems that can’t be fixed until March, let’s do the next best thing: complain about what went wrong Monday night.

Here’s our final “Airing of Grievances” of 2025-26.

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Making nothing out of something

In the first quarter, when things were going well to start a playoff game for a change, the Steelers had chances to turn a decent quarter into a great one.

They didn’t.

Two Steelers rookies combined on a strip sack recovery. Jack Sawyer got the sack. Yahya Black picked up the fumble.

But then the Steelers went three-and-out.

The Texans defense showed nothing. The Steelers’ offensive line was getting a good push and creating lots of seams and alleys. Star edge players Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. were nonexistent. DK Metcalf and Calvin Austin were frequently open.

That included a 31-yard Metcalf pickup to start the second drive.

However, in his first game back from a two-game suspension, Metcalf had a blatant drop during one series, and Rodgers had two incompletions for Austin that appeared to be miscommunications and a third misfire to Jonnu Smith.

“We had some opportunities,” Rodgers said. “Either drops or pressure or just total (missed assignments) or not the right throw. We had a lot of chances.”

The team also had two of their all-too-typical third-down #ShortOfTheSticks completions that were caught, but stopped shy of the line to gain.

One was for 5 yards on a third-and-10. The other one was another third-and-10 that only went for 7 yards.

In general, the pass game was ragged all night. Rodgers was just 17 for 33 for 146 yards, an interception, four sacks and a 50.8 rating.

As for the tight ends, Pat Freiermuth had one catch on three targets for 18 yards. Jonnu Smith had two catches for minus-1 yard. Metcalf only had two catches for 42 yards, the drop and fanned on a block during a red-zone rep in the second quarter.

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Wasted takeaways

That Sawyer-Black strip sack wasn’t the only turnover the Steelers forced in the first half.

Keeanu Benton also sacked C.J. Stroud and forced a second fumble that T.J. Watt recovered at Houston’s 21-yard line.

That’s not bad, going against a team that never gives the ball away. Houston only had 12 offensive turnovers during the regular season, second-fewest in the NFL.

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However, the Steelers failed to capitalize. They needed to claw just to get one first down, then had to settle for a short field goal from Chris Boswell to pull within 7-6.

So the Steelers ended up with only six points off of two Houston giveaways in the first half.

Brandin Echols also intercepted Stroud at his team’s own 4-yard line to end the opening drive of the second half.

That possession resulted in two first downs but yet another punt, Corliss Waitman’s fourth of six on the night.

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More Steelers coverage

• Mike Tomlin brushes aside talk about his Steelers future after another playoff flop
• Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers won’t ‘make any emotional decisions’ about future
• ‘Sitting up here again, same story’: T.J. Watt frustrated by Steelers’ playoff futility
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And then, reality set in

Prior to Pittsburgh’s last possession of the third quarter, the Steelers’ pass rush had generated three sacks and recovered two Stroud fumbles.

By that point, Houston’s high-profile edge tandem of Hunter and Anderson had a combined two tackles, none for loss and one QB hit.

Then the dam burst.

On that drive, Hunter sacked Rodgers on a second down, and Anderson pressured him on a third down. The Steelers had to punt.

On Pittsburgh’s first drive of the fourth quarter, Anderson lined up well wide of left tackle Dylan Cook, made a dash for Rodgers, hit him and dislodged the football on a third-and-12.

Sheldon Rankins picked it up and ran it back for a defensive touchdown to make the score 17-6.

“I thought they ruled the day,” Tomlin said of the top-ranked Houston defense. “They certainly had a reputation for that coming in, and they confirmed it with their performance.”

The score jumped to 30-6 when Houston tallied a second defensive touchdown on a Calen Bullock interception return for a touchdown.

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Third-and-done

Third downs were a huge pothole for Pittsburgh. The Steelers were 2 for 14 on third downs. The Texans were 10 for 15.

That was particularly a problem on Houston’s opening possession of the second quarter. Coordinator Nick Caley’s unit marched 92 yards in 14 plays and seven minutes for a touchdown.

Christian Kirk polished off the drive with a 6-yard score from Stroud.

Stroud completed third-down passes to Kirk and Dalton Schultz along the way to keep that drive alive. The Steelers were outgained 198-94 in the first half and 408-175 for the game.

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Old habits

The Steelers’ leaky run defense returned against a Houston rush attack that came in 22nd in the league at 108 yards per game.

Rookie running back Woody Marks set a career-high with 112 yards. His previous high was 74 yards Nov. 20 against Buffalo.

“A lot of it was just execution. A lot of kick (butt),” Watt said of the Houston run game. “They played good ball tonight. They were able to move the ball. We weren’t able to stop them in critical downs where it was crucial. Same story.”

The Texans probably could’ve and should’ve run even more in the first half. They had 164 yards on the ground at an average of 5.3 yards per carry.

That was much better than the erratic performance they were getting from Stroud in the pocket through three quarters.

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Captain Kirk

Joey Porter Jr. and the rest of the Steelers’ secondary did a really good job against Houston star pass catcher Nico Collins. He had just three catches for 21 yards before getting knocked out with a concussion.

But the back-third of the defense kept losing Kirk.

Sixth on the team with 239 receiving yards, Kirk blistered the Steelers for eight catches, 144 yards and a touchdown. An alleged Steelers trade target last year, Kirk had receptions of 33, 36 and 46 yards on the evening.

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Kirk’s last 100-yard game was Nov. 12, 2023.