Russell Wilson didn’t want to talk about the past after the Steelers’ fourth consecutive loss Saturday night — and ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt didn’t appear thrilled by the veteran quarterback’s comment.
During a segment of “SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt” following the game, the network showed a clip from Wilson’s postgame press conference, where he addressed Pittsburgh’s spiral to end the regular season, talked about a “tough few weeks” and said the Steelers need to adjust — and remain focused on resetting — entering the playoffs.
“I don’t really wanna talk about the past just because I think we’ve been in that for a little bit here,” Wilson said. “I think the best thing we can do is get ready for the playoffs. It’s a new season. That’s the only thing that really matters anymore at this point.”
But as Van Pelt and NFL analyst Ryan Clark broke down Wilson’s comment, the longtime anchor and host took a jab at the 36-year-old quarterback for not wanting to discuss what went wrong.
“It’s our job to talk about the past,” Van Pelt said.
“It seems pretty relevant right now,” Clark, a former Steelers defensive back, responded.
“We’re not talking about 19 — we’re not talking about the Great Depression,” Van Pelt continued. “We’re talking about the game you guys just lost, that’s the fourth in a row.”
Wilson completed 17 of 31 passes for 148 yards and a touchdown against the Bengals, and across 11 games during his first campaign with Pittsburgh, he collected just 2,482 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Justin Fields started the Steelers’ first six games while Wilson recovered from a calf injury — with Wilson inactive for five and then a backup for the final game — and guided Pittsburgh to a 4-2 record.
Wilson then returned to the lineup and helped the Steelers rip off four additional wins, providing early evidence that a change of scenery after two dismal years with the Broncos had worked.
But across Pittsburgh’s last seven games, Wilson has managed just 1,540 passing yards — an average of just 220 per game — and 10 touchdowns.
Their tear to open the season helped the Steelers secure a postseason berth, but after being in contention for one of the AFC’s top seeds, they’ll now need to navigate the playoffs away from Acrisure Stadium — either facing the No. 4 Texans in the wild-card round if the Chargers lose or meeting the No. 3 Ravens for an AFC North showdown if Los Angeles defeats the Raiders.
And regardless of which scenario ends up materializing, questions about the slide — about what happened in December, about how the Steelers masked this version of themselves for so long, about, more succinctly, the past — won’t fade into the background until a Steelers win snaps it.
New York Post
