The Pittsburgh Steelers received a nightmare on Christmas day courtesy of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. DeShon Elliott delivered a harsh, blunt take about the nightmarish evening for Pittsburgh.

The safety endured a 29-10 thrashing with the Steelers at the hands of the defending Super Bowl champs. Elliott didn’t mince words about how he felt about the effort, which he detailed to Steelers reporter Nick Farabaugh of PennLive.com.

“They made adjustments when they should have. We did not….guys can’t be f—— wide open. That’s the first thing,” Elliott began.

He later fired off one last strong message inside the locker room.

“Do your job…it’s Week 18. We shouldn’t be having these problems in Week 18,” Elliott said. “That’s a Week 1 or Week 2 problem.”

How bad was Steelers’ defensive effort vs. Chiefs? 

Pittsburgh has gone from 10-3 to losing three in a row.

The Steelers especially looked lackadaisical in the second half. Kansas City outscored Pittsburgh 16-3 in the next two quarters.

The Chiefs delivered three scoring drives during their first trio of second half offensive possessions. Kansas City’s first drive ended in eight plays and a field goal. But the next two culminated in touchdowns. Kareem Hunt scored on a two-yard run. Travis Kelce snuck behind the Steelers’ defense next on his 12-yard touchdown catch. Kelce also made history at Acrisure Stadium.

Kansas City completed 10 drives that totaled 389 yards. The Chiefs also turned four of their five red zone trips into points.

Elliott wasn’t the only honest member of the Steelers. Head coach Mike Tomlin dished out his own honesty postgame, per Brooke Pryor of ESPN.

“That sucked, to be blunt,” Tomlin said. “Not the type of ball we want to play and really kind of eerily similar to our last performance in that we’re not doing the fundamental things well enough.”

The Steelers are still playoff bound with 10 wins. However, they’ve lost their grip on first place in the AFC North. The rival Baltimore Ravens trounced the Houston Texans on Wednesday 31-2 to move one game up on the Steelers. Pittsburgh now only wins the division with a victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 5 and a Ravens loss.

Chiefs secure AFC top seed with win over Steelers

Patrick Mahomes threw three touchdown passes as the Kansas City Chiefs clinched the top seed in the AFC with a dominant 29-10 Christmas Day win on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday.

The defending Super Bowl champions will now have a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, while a third straight loss for the Steelers means they no longer control their own destiny in the race for the AFC North division title.

“I thought it was a full team performance,” Mahomes said.

“Defense stepped up, offense stepped up, everybody had their imprint on the game.

“We are getting healthy at the right time, the big guy (tight end Kelce) leads us off, but we have got guys everywhere so it’s nice.”

The Chiefs (15-1) look to be hitting their prime form at just the right time, but the Steelers (10-6), who have also clinched a postseason berth, have now lost three in a row and sit behind the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North.

The Steelers need the Ravens, who dominated the Houston Texans 31-2 in the late game on Wednesday, to lose their final game of the season to have any chance of taking the division.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was frank in his assessment of his team’s loss, which follows defeats to the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore.

“That sucked, to be blunt,” Tomlin said. “Not the type of ball we wanna play and really kind of eerily similar to our last performance in that we are not doing the fundamental things well enough.

“The bottom line is that it’s junior varsity. Not good enough. We need to own that but also look at what we need to do different,” he added.

Mahomes, who threw for 320 yards on 29 of 38 passing, was in charge from the outset, finding Xavier Worthy with a seven-yard touchdown pass before connecting with Justin Watson on an 11-yard pass to open up a 13-0 lead in the first quarter.

The Steelers thought they had gotten back in the game when Jaylen Warren ran into the end zone, but the score was nullified because of a holding penalty.

The frustration was increased on the next play when Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson was picked off by Justin Reid.

Pittsburgh gave itself some hope in the second quarter with Wilson finishing off a 72-yard, 11-play drive, with a one-yard run for a touchdown.

The teams exchanged field goals in the third quarter before the Chiefs ran away with the game in the fourth.

A two-yard rush from Kareem Hunt made it 22-10, and then Mahomes found his trusted target Kelce in the end zone with a 12-yard pass to put the game away.

Kelce caught eight passes for 84 yards and became the third tight end to reach 1,000 career receptions, joining Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten.

He also broke Gonzalez’s record for most receiving touchdowns in Chiefs history.

“It’s everything to me,” Kelce said after the game. “Tony’s been a mentor for me. I feel like I’m still trying to fill that guy’s shoes.”

Gonzalez previously promised to pay any potential fine if the 35-year-old Kelce celebrated with a signature Gonzalez “dunk” of the ball over the goalpost. Kelce did just that. Celebratory dunks were once routine but have more recently been punished with fines.

In the day’s other game, there was no sign of the Ravens stumbling at the finishing line, with reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson at his dynamic best against the Texans.

Jackson threw for two touchdowns and 168 yards and brilliantly ran in another score as he made a strong case for a third MVP award.

Jackson also ran 87 yards on four carries which ensured he replaced Michael Vick as the NFL’s all-time leading quarterback in rushing yards.

Vick ran for 6,109 yards in his career, but Jackson broke that record despite having played in 41 fewer games than the former Atlanta Falcons star.