The Pittsburgh Steelers defense experienced another rough performance in Week 4. The Cleveland Browns posted 372 yards while tallying 27 points. On the ground, Cleveland ran for 112 yards.
Poor tackling was arguably the biggest issue, particularly from the team’s linebackers.
They all arguably deserved blame. But Pittsburgh’s top player in that unit, Patrick Queen, received the most scathing critique of the night from a former Steelers linebacker.
“I’m a Queen fan, but he’s making business decisions out there,” Williams wrote on X. “He knows this is his last year with the Steelers, and he’s playing safe.”
Williams was referring to the fact Queen is on an expiring contract this season. The linebacker signed a 3-year, $41 million contract with the Steelers in March 2024. He will be an unrestricted free agent in March.
Queen finished tied for fifth on the team with five total tackles. Of those five tackles, three of them were solos for the linebacker. Queen didn’t have any other statistics in the game.
Steelers’ Patrick Queen Gets Criticism for ‘Business Decisions’
There were already rumors about the Steelers parting with Queen. This past spring, that speculation was that the team would move on from the linebacker before the 2026 season.
Obviously, that didn’t happen. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac reported during the spring that the Steelers were very pleased with Queen’s first two seasons.
That doesn’t mean the Steelers are planning to bring back the linebacker. But Queen and the team do not appear to have a bad relationship.
How much longer that lasts, though, if Queen continues to play as he did Thursday remains to be seen. Williams was hardly the only pundit on social media to criticize the linebacker for his effort.
“Watch Patrick Queen here,” wrote 93.7 The Fan’s Josh Rowntree. “Sees Judkins with the ball and pretends to get blocked by Boston, who isn’t even trying to block him, instead of running to the football.”
“Umm Patrick Queen???” Another social media user wrote to a different Browns touchdown Thursday night.
In Queen’s defense, Williams walked back some of his criticism a little more than a half hour later.
“I apologize to Queen,” wrote Williams in a different X post. “Everyone playing bad and slow tonight.”
After four games, Queen is second on the Steelers with 28 combined tackles. But he has made very few impactful plays, which was often the case in games during his first two seasons with the team.
Queen’s most impactful play this season was an interception during Week 2. He also has two pass defenses and one tackle for loss to go with his combined tackles.
Fellow inside linebacker Payton Wilson leads the Steelers with 34 combined tackles. Wilson also had the most tackles for Pittsburgh versus Cleveland with nine total, including seven solos. Additionally, Wilson had a sack, tackle for loss and quarterback hit against the Browns.
Ex-Steelers LB Takes Shot at Patrick Queen During Browns Loss