They weren’t in the playoffs yet, but the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 18 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens sure had the ramifications of a playoff game. Thus, in typical Steeler fashion, the black and gold trailed 10-0 less than two minutes into the second quarter. They’d later head to halftime facing a 10-3 deficit.

The Steelers came back to win that game. But they haven’t been as lucky during their last six playoff games, each of which has ended in losses. Pittsburgh is simply being dominated in first quarters.

In the 2016-17 AFC Championship game, New England led 10-0 at the end of the first quarter. Against Jacksonville in the divisional round the next year, the Steelers trailed 14-0 at the end of the first and 21-0 minutes later. It was even worse against Cleveland in 2020, who led the Steelers 28-0 after the first, and 35-10 at the half.

Then, the last three losses. A 21-7 advantage to Kansas City at halftime, a 14-0 lead for Buffalo and a 7-0 lead for the Ravens, both after the first quarter.

Pittsburgh hasn’t scored in the first quarter of a playoff game since January 15th, 2017. It was the Steelers’ last playoff win, against the Kansas City Chiefs. Chris Boswell kicked two field goals, and even in that win, the Steelers still trailed 7-6 at the end of the first. Mike Tomlin’s teams simply do not come out of the gate hot in the playoffs.

In a lot of ways, this Steelers team hopes to be different than the rest have been in the playoffs. Aaron Rodgers has moxie not seen at the quarterback position since Ben Roethlisberger. An offensive line with some ragtag parts has done a great job protecting him as the year has gone on. The Steelers found their own MVP in their backup running back, who came extremely cheap last offseason. And the defense as a group has improved at each level as the year’s progressed.

And yet, when it mattered the most last week, the Steelers were yet again slow out of the gates.

Against the Houston Texans on Monday night, that might be a death sentence. Across the board, Houston’s defense is stout. It rushes the passer well, fills run lanes, covers receivers downfield, and swarms to the ball. Potentially worst of all for the Steelers’ hopes, it rarely misses tackles.

It took Pittsburgh’s own offense quite a while to get going last week against a lesser Ravens’ defense. Once it did, things went on fine. But some underneath routes from Rodgers to his running backs against a missed-tackle-happy Ravens’ defense eventually gave Pittsburgh some life. The Texans defend those much better, and they also love to put pressure in the face of opposing quarterbacks. So those checkdowns may not amount to much, and the Steelers could have to find a lifeline elsewhere.

However, Pittsburgh may have an opportunity here. The Steelers are hosting a Texans team that plays in a dome and has never won a road playoff game in franchise history in a frigid Acrisure Stadium atmosphere. Houston’s not a team they probably wanted to face, but there is a route towards winning this one.

But that route quickly dissipates with another bad start. The Steelers just can’t afford to keep spotting opposing teams leads so early in the playoffs. Especially when the Texans’ defense might be too good to climb out of that hole. We’ll see if Mike Tomlin finally has something different up his sleeve.