The Pittsburgh Steelers have been under a lot of criticism since Saturday’s playoff loss — especially on defense. The Steelers gave up a season-high 464 yards and 29 first downs to the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card Round, failing to force a turnover for just the fourth time all season. At the center of those critiques has been inside linebacker Patrick Queen, who’s quarterbacked the defense this year wearing the green dot, earning a whole lotta flack for what many considered to be poor effort.
There may have been an excuse for some of those struggles, though. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Queen was playing through the flu, and had to receive four bags of IV fluids prior to the game.
Context from Saturday night: #Steelers LB Patrick Queen, who had 10 tackles, six solos, played despite having a really bad bout with the flu, source said. He received 4 IV bags before the game and went out there and played. pic.twitter.com/6b1Ej1TmdS
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 13, 2025
He’s not the only player that’s dealt with illness as of late. All-Pro DT Cameron Heyward played through the flu last week and missed two days of practice leading up to the Wild Card. Kicker Chris Boswell also missed two days of practice leading up to the game, though his status wasn’t in doubt, having been left off the final injury report.
Queen’s illness was never reported, but if anyone’s in that kind of state, it seems reasonable to expect a decline in performance. He did finish with 10 total tackles (1 TFL), but filling out the stat sheet wasn’t enough for this crew to manage a win. Queen’s own lapses didn’t help, of course, but the problems went far beyond him; it was the totality of the effort across the defense that led the Ravens to a combined 299 rushing yards.
