PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers dropped their third-straight loss, falling to the Kansas City Chiefs 29-10 in Week 17 to close out a three-game stretch in 11 days, all with losses.

With three losses all coming with double-digit deficits, tensions are starting to boil over, as the Steelers are questioning their own character within the locker room. As the team falls out of the lead in the AFC North and no longer controls their playoff seed destiny, the efforts and the standards of some are being brought into question.

Speaking after the game, safety DeShon Elliott made it known that execution is starting to drown the Steelers defense.

“First off, guys can’t be [explicit] wide open. That’s the first thing. Do your job,” Elliott said. “I feel like we communicated, guys just weren’t doing their freaking job. Get back to the drawing board. It’s Week 18. We shouldn’t be having these problems in Week 18. This is a Week 2 problem.”

Within the lack of execution, some players are concerned about players “wanting it.” And while Elliott believes everyone in the locker room does “want it,” it’s a matter of doing what’s needed to accomplish it.

“It looks like it,” Elliott said when asked about players not looking like they “want it.” “Especially once we got down 22-10. At that point in time we still had a chance to win that game. I think we always have a chance to win the game, but it’s like getting in the dirt. Stand up. We’ve got the guys to stand up. We’ve got the chemistry and the character in our room to stand up, we just got to do it.”

Elliott isn’t the only one with the setiment. After the game, Alex Highsmith also said the team needs more “want-to” within them.

“There’s gotta be a want-to, and there’s not enough of that right now,” Highsmith said. “We’ve got [one] game left – we’re gonna find out who wants it. You gotta want it.”

The Steelers will get one more opportunity to turn things around before the postseason, taking on the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 18. With their playoff berth clinched, it’s now on them to find a win before they head into the “dance” as Mike Tomlin calls it.

As for confidence in figuring it out, Elliott, along with the rest of the locker room remains high that they can get back to their old ways.

“We have the same players,” Elliott said. “The players haven’t changed. We’ve got to go out there and execute.”

Now, it’s time for the Steelers to show they both “want it” and can “do it.”

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