The 2020 Pittsburgh Steelers were one of the biggest enigmas in franchise history. After starting the season 11-0, the Steelers won just one out of their final five regular season games to finish 12-4, giving them the opportunity to host a home playoff game against the Cleveland Browns. A game that began with Maurkice Pouncey snapping the ball over Ben Roethlisberger’s head for a Cleveland touchdown and the Browns jumping out to a 28-0 lead ended with a 48-37 Steelers defeat.
It was a result no one expected, and on his Not Just Football podcast, Steelers DL Cameron Heyward said the game was so depressing he considered retiring afterward.
“It’s one of the saddest pictures to watch Ben and Pounce sit on that bench after that game. There weren’t any fans, we had maybe 50 family members there. And for that game to play out like that, boy I thought I was retired after that game. That was depressing.”
While the immediate aftermath of such a heartbreaking loss can spark a lot of emotions, it would’ve been shocking if Heyward had stepped away at just 31 years old, and it’s unlikely he gave it serious consideration. He had just made his third All-Pro team in four seasons and was playing at an elite level, just as he has in the five seasons since.
It was Pouncey’s last game, though Roethlisberger came back for one more season in 2021. After such a hot start and a matchup against a Browns team the Steelers beat handily in Week 5 before losing after resting their starters in Week 17, the Steelers seemed destined to win. But Cleveland, despite being ravaged with a COVID-19 outbreak, pulled off the upset in dominant fashion.
Without fans in the stands, 2020 was a little bit of a strange season, and nothing embodied that more than the path the Steelers took. While they had some fluky wins to help them start 11-0, they also had some games where they looked flat-out dominant. It all came crashing down in the second half and the playoff loss was the nightmare to end everything.
Heyward’s guest, Eric Ebron, said he even got emotional after the loss, something that he said is rare for him. With all the emotions and uncertainty over the future of some of the team’s core players, thoughts of “what’s next” could bubble up and it was a game that could be hard to move on from. But Heyward didn’t hang up the cleats, and his play since has likely put him in a position to be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The Steelers haven’t had much playoff success during Heyward’s tenure, but with a talented roster and a staff overhaul, there’s some optimism that 2026 could be the year to break the team’s playoff win drought.
Watch the full episode with Heyward and Ebron below.