PITTSBURGH — After the Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, they had fallen to three straight teams, and the defense started bickering at one another, both privately and publicly. So, head coach Mike Tomlin called a meeting on Thursday after the Christmas Day loss where the Steelers addressed all the ills.

That went from defensive communication breakdowns to unraveling the offense as a ball-control group. How could these things be fixed, and more importantly, can the Steelers get back on the same page?

“Last Thursday, we came in after Christmas Day’s game and met and analyzed not only that performance versus Kansas City, but really looked at some trends in most recent performances, and specifically some things that we have been talking about in this setting, things that have been building blocks for engineering victory for us,” Tomlin said.

Tomlin believes his team is in the right mindset. Players were able to digest the information and trends going the wrong way. More than that, Tomlin’s speech gave the Steelers a blunt hit of reality that was going on.

Patrick Queen, DeShon Elliott, Alex Highsmith, and Cam Heyward took some liberties after the game to discuss the issues defensively.

Following the meeting, the Steelers feel rejuvenated and back on course, but only their game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday will decide if they truly are back on the right track.

“It hit the team the right way,” Queen said. “We all care deeply about this game and the outcomes. When he breaks it down and is being transparent with us it makes us want to go out there and do our job. The meeting we had really opened things up.”

Tomlin says the team ‘bickers because they care’ and multiple players echoed that. They do care, and after that meeting, they feel like the team can be back on the same page. Queen felt that a large part of the issue was trust and faith in one another.

If they can patch that up, the Steelers could potentially regain form at the perfect time heading into the playoffs.