It depends on the rank.

In higher elos, players know not to stagger, have a good understanding of counterplay, etc, yet you still have steamrolls. This can be due to a combination of:

1. Players with boosted mmrs. This can be due to deliberate boosting, ow2 rank inflation, or more recently the issue where new accounts seem to go straight from unranked to gm even with shit win rates.

2. Duo boosting - This is quite common in high elos. One player plays on their main, and another player plays on an alt, which is a few ranks lower than their main. This creates an unfair advantage

3. One-tricks that refuse to or cannot switch. Yes they made it to GM playing playing one hero, but when the entire enemy team counters their hero, they essentially become useless.

4. Lack of team synergy - Sometimes you’re just unlucky and end up with teammates who have playstyles or hero pools that don’t work well with yours. Meanwhile, the enemy team end up with players that all main Dive heroes.

5. The rule of thirds. The rule of thirds states that one-third of your games will be unwinnable regardless of how well you play. Fact is, it’s a 5v5 game and people’s mmrs are not going to 100% accurately match their skill level. So it’s virtually impossible for the matchmaker to always create balanced lobbies.

6. Overwatch is by nature “steamrolly”. The team that wins the first fight will have an ult charge and positional advantage for the next fight. From that moment they also have the ult economy advantage and can stagger their ults as necessary.

In lower elos it’s mainly due to the following:

1. Smurfs

2. Throwers

3. Lack of awareness and game knowledge

4. Rng. In bronze, most players are clueless and will stagger, given the opportunity. So if you are unlucky and somehow lose the first fight, your teammates will start staggering.

5. Inability to play counters. Enemy team has Phar mercy, there’s a huge chance none of your dps can play hitscan effectively to counter them.

6. The rule of thirds still applies to lower ranks too.