The tension building within the 6-4 Steelers is teetering closer to a breaking point.
When dissecting Pittsburgh’s 13-10 loss to the Browns on Sunday in Cleveland, running back Najee Harris expressed he’s “tired of this s–t,” as the Steelers offense sputtered again.
“There’s just a lot of stuff that just goes around that you guys don’t see,” said Harris, who had 12 carries for 35 yards.
“I guess I’m trying to say, it’s just, I’m just at a point where I’m just tired of this s–t.”
The cryptic responses continued in the Steelers’ locker room, where Harris was asked: “Do you think everybody has that team-first attitude?”
The former first-round pick replied: “I’d rather not talk about the team, I’ll just talk about me and my performance.”
The Steelers offense amassed 249 yards Sunday, with second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett throwing for 106 yards in offensive coordinator Matt Canada’s much-maligned unit.
Though Harris, 25, believes the issues are fixable, he didn’t provide a definitive answer as to how.
“Is it fixable? Yeah. Are we going to fix it? S–t,” Harris said.
Frustration appeared to be boiling over for the Steelers long before Harris’ conversation with the media.
In the second half of Sunday’s game, wide receiver Dionate Johnson was seen “getting visibly upset on the sidelines,” according to The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly, who reported it “was significant enough that rookie offensive tackle Broderick Jones had to pick him up and carry him away from a member of the coaching staff.”
The moment resulted in “a lengthy sideline talk” between head coach Mike Tomlin and Johnson, who had two receptions for 16 yards.
Despite the winning record, the Steelers — who are still in the thick of the AFC playoff race — appear to be at a crossroads.
Pittsburgh has been out-gained in every game this season, which continued with the Browns having a 259-249 yardage advantage Sunday despite starting rookie quarterback Dorian-Thompson Robinson.
“You could look at the record and say, ‘OK, we’re still good right now.’ Or we could look at the record and be like, ‘If we keep playing this type of football, how long is that s–t going to last?’ I look at it like, ‘How long that s–t going to last?’ Y’all could look at it like it’s a good record, but I mean it’s the NFL. Winning how we did, it’s not going to get us nowhere,” he said.
The Steelers will next host the division rival Bengals (5-5), who lost quarterback Joe Burrow for the season last week.
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