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PITTSBURGH — Coach John Harbaugh had no words to describe the loss of three-time Pro Bowl safety Kyle Hamilton.

Hamilton left the Ravens’ win-or-go-home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a concussion in the third quarter Sunday night, and the defense went downhill from there.

“I don’t know how to measure that, but it was definitely not a good thing,” Harbaugh said after the 26-24 loss.

It’s hard to measure Hamilton’s importance because it continues to reveal itself in different ways.

Two seasons ago, Hamilton established himself as a Swiss Army knife, giving then-defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald a huge toolbox as he utilized Hamilton’s versatility and athleticism.

Last season, Hamilton’s importance showed up in the way the defense righted itself once he and Ar’Darius Washington took over as the safety duo. Teammates said it was because of the pair’s chemistry but also because of how well Hamilton communicates.

This season, his impact came through in the reverse move. When the Ravens traded for safety Alohi Gilman, who took over deep alongside rookie Malaki Starks, Hamilton moved back up into the box, allowing Zach Orr to use him all over the field.

And, in the final game, his importance showed in his absence.

The defense had an impressive start to the game, admittedly against a struggling offense missing its star wide receiver. The Ravens forced a punt, followed by a turnover on downs, in the first quarter. The Steelers accumulated just 21 yards, averaging 2 yards a play.

In the second quarter, the Ravens gave up 117 yards but held the Steelers to a field goal and a punt. It was a good example of the bend-don’t-break defense they played during their winning streak.

Then Hamilton went down within the first two minutes of the second half. He collided with Gilman, and both went into concussion protocol. Gilman returned. Hamilton did not.

“It was a bang-bang play,” Gilman said. “I was more worried about Kyle, just because I knew I hit him pretty good. I just hate the way it went down like that, but that’s football.”

The Steelers immediately attacked the center of the field and went on to score their first touchdown. They scored 23 points after Hamilton left the game and picked up 240 of their 390 yards.

The Steelers’ passing game had been hobbled without its No. 1 receiver, DK Metcalf, as was evident in their Week 17 loss to the Cleveland Browns.

But the Ravens were even more hobbled without Hamilton.

With Hamilton on the field, the Steelers averaged 3.9 yards per play with a 33% success rate and -0.27 expected points added per play, according to Next Gen Stats.

With Hamilton missing from the Ravens’ lineup, the Steelers averaged 6.9 yards per play with a 60% success rate and 0.44 EPA per play.

The defense was given two chances to change the momentum after the offense scored go-ahead touchdowns in the fourth quarter. It gave up a touchdown each time.

Gilman said Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is one of the best, a “GOAT” who can see the field exceptionally well. And, as linebacker Roquan Smith pointed out, losing Hamilton meant losing “a great player and a great leader, a guy who communicates very well, [who is a] very cerebral football player and a guy who [we] depend on for a lot of things.”

Cornerback Marlon Humphrey said he moved inside to help fill in for Hamilton and the Ravens adjusted the defense.

“But what Kyle does, a lot of times he doesn’t have a lot of picks and forced fumbles, but what he does in the run game, defeating linemen, guys that are 100 pounds more than him, open-field tackles — he is not a guy that you can just plug and play somebody and play the same way,” Humphrey said.

But Smith also said their success shouldn’t come down to him.

“It’s tough anytime when a leader and a great player like Kyle goes down, but obviously it’s the ‘next man up’ business in a sense,” Smith said. “Just truth be told, [we] played a great first half, but we didn’t play good enough in the second half, including myself. Regardless of the circumstances of things that are going on, you have to play if you’re out there on the field, and you have to do your job, and we didn’t do that.”

Smith and Humphrey, veterans of the defense, were introspective after the latest disappointing end to a season.

Two years ago, the defense was the best in the league. Last year, it had difficulties adjusting to a rookie coordinator but gained momentum toward the end.

This year, the Ravens came in with high expectations and a more experienced coordinator. But Humphrey said they never established the identity they wanted.

He shouldered responsibility for that.

“Ultimately, I look at my season, and it goes into play with how our season went,” Humphrey said. “I feel like I had good plays. I definitely had more bad plays this year than normal; that wasn’t to my standard, but that is kind of how the season went. ... The preparation I put in, the time I put in, the numbers I put in — I ran the fastest I’ve ever ran this past training camp — and nothing really matched up to how I would perform on Sundays. It’s going to be, honestly, a deeper study than what I’ve probably ever done, just trying to figure out what exactly it was."

Smith, too, called his own performance out, as well as the defense’s as a whole. In addition to not being willing to blame Hamilton’s absence, he wasn’t willing to blame the coaching, either.

But he was very willing to admit something was wrong throughout the season.

“When I turn on the film, even play in and play out, I felt like we were in really good calls, and it was about the players actually executing the call and not getting lackadaisical [or] complacent,” Smith said. “I feel like that’s something that we have to work on. I don’t know what it is, personally, but it’s something. It’s something where it’s just play in and play out, if your job is to do this, why can’t you do this, play in and play out, including myself? I feel like that’s something we have to do if we want to ever go and get over the hump, and I don’t truly know what it is.”

Everyone knows this team will look different next year. There’s always change year over year, but after the way the Ravens fell short of expectations, the organization’s leaders will have to examine every level.

Hamilton and Smith are signed for the long term, though. And so, as Hamilton starts the offseason resting and recovering, Smith will spend his offseason scouring his own brain for answers.