Death, taxes and Mike Tomlin’s Pittsburgh Steelers losing to a wildly inferior opponent. You never know when it’s going to happen but you know over the course of the season it’s coming. Today was that day for 2023. The Steelers went into today knowing they’d face two teams with a combined record of 2-19 giving them a tremendous opportunity to build some momentum heading into the final few weeks. Instead, they are banged up and facing a short week against a longtime nemesis in Bill Belichick.
Quarterback Kenny Pickett left with a left ankle injury. Inside linebacker Elandon Roberts left with a groin injury. Isaac Seumalo left with a shoulder problem. Minkah Fitzpatrick broke his hand but kept playing and T.J. Watt was hobbled by a bad ankle in the second half. Those are things that happen in football but let’s talk about a few things that shouldn’t.
-A penalty for 12 men on the field after a time out.
-An offensive gameplan that relied way too heavily on the pass early against the second worst run D in the league.
-Diontae Johnson, coming off an embarrassing performance last week, decided to do a choreographed dance with George Pickens late in the game despite being down by two scores.
-Going shotgun on fourth and goal from the one with a backup QB in for his first snap therefore telling the defense a run was coming.
-Horrible shotgun snaps by center Mason Cole.
-Burning a timeout on the second play of your opening second half possession because your “tackle eligible” is late coming on.
No, you can’t put a loss on one guy whether a player or a coach but these types of performances under Mike Tomlin have become all too familiar. Organization and discipline start at the top and both of these things were severely lacking in today’s loss. Those are on Mike Tomlin and his coaching staff period.
This team had the look of one that greatly under-estimated its’ opponent. They went right down the field on the opening drive only to stall because of poor execution and poor play-calling. The field goal seemed to make the Steelers believe it would be all too easy. The real slap in the face however came when the Cardinals stuffed them on fourth and goal at the one then went 99 yards the other way. It was humiliating not to score and even more humiliating to get run over by a team that’s fighting to stay out of the top spot for next year’s draft.
Players will likely say all of the right things and that’s fine but a performance like this – so ubiquitously bad – falls directly on the shoulders of Mike Tomlin. We should have all seen it coming right?
