Madden Monday: Losses to Eagles, Ravens makes you wonder if Steelers' hot start was 'fool's gold'

On the surface, back-to-back losses by scores of 27-13 and 34-17 to the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens look bad enough.

But as Mark Madden of 105.9 The X and TribLive said during this weeks Madden Monday podcast , things were actually worse than that.

I think both the Philadelphia and Baltimore scores flattered to deceive, Madden said.

The Steelers lost by considerable margins.

But I thought the play was (by) a bigger margin.

I think they got their (backside) whipped each of the last two weeks in every way you can.

It makes you wonder how much of the 10-3 start was fools gold.

Its true that since the Steelers 3-0 start, they are just a 7-5 team.

They could finish at a .500 clip over their last 14 games if they drop their next two at home to Kansas City and Cincinnati.

It just feels like the season has taken a dip permanently.

It feels like they cant regenerate what they had, Madden said.

Theyre clearly fading, just like they do every year.

Same as it ever was.

And theyll be content when it happens again next year because theres a whole new standard, and it aint much of a standard.

In previous podcasts, Madden and I had talked about the potential of the Steelers winning a first-round playoff game at home if they clinch the AFC North or potentially going on the road to Houston and winning as the AFCs top wild card.

But now hes wavering on that prospect.

Even if the Steelers wind up as the top wild card and get to face Houston, Im at the point where we had said we would feel good about a visit to Houston in the first round I dont know now.

I dont know about that with the way the Steelers are fading, Madden said.

The biggest problem Madden saw with these past two games is how the Eagles and Ravens physically manhandled the Steelers in the trenches.

I dont want to say theyre shrinking violets physically, but they got whooped by both Philadelphia and Baltimore.

It wasnt even close in that regard, Madden said.

What did the Steelers do well? If you want a positive takeaway from the loss, you say, OK, what did the Steelers do well? And my answer is, Well, nothing, really.

Among those lines, because of Russell Wilsons two backbreaking turnovers Saturday against the Ravens, Madden says the Steelers other shortcomings are being overlooked.

They just were never in the game, Madden said.

I know people are trying to feast on the two big mistakes Russ made the fumble when he should have slid and the pick-six.

But Im not even sure the Steelers win (or are a serious threat to win) even if those two things dont occur.

It just never felt like a game the Steelers were likely to win.

Also, during the podcast, Madden and I talk about the Penguins game in New Jersey on Saturday, the first round of the college football playoff, the Pitt volleyball loss and Paul Skenes long-term future with the Pirates..

This article has been shared from the original article on triblive, here is the link to the original article.