If you’re really honest with yourself then you know the Pittsburgh Steelers and Mike Tomlin are very fortunate to be at 3-2 through the first five weeks of the season. The offense lacks identity and is about as consistent as a toddler’s sleeping patterns. The defense is vanilla. It lacks creativity and it depends all too often on number 90 to bail it out. My question for you is this; what year is it?
I ask because you could pretty much say any of the last few seasons and you’d be correct. The current iteration of this franchise looks an awful lot like it has in recent years and that falls entirely on the shoulders of Mike Tomlin. You can point to the injuries and you’d have a valid argument – until you look back at last night.
The Dallas Cowboys had a ton of injuries too entering the game yet they still stymied our offense and diced through our defense to the tune of almost 450 yards. So sure, I’ll listen to the injury problems but for only so long because other teams seem to figure it out don’t they?
And that’s where Tomlin comes in. I have to give him credit because no one wins rock fights the way he does. The problem is that it isn’t a sustainable method of winning and that’s already proven true this season. After a sparkling record last year in one-score games, Tomlin has already lost as many of those this year as he did all of last season. We call this “regression to the mean.”
What’s more troubling is the fact that Tomlin won’t change. He’s determined to play a brand of ball that will win some games but also lose just about as many. The bend-don’t-break defense relies so much on just four guys getting to the quarterback right now that teams have figured it out. Tomlin and Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin continue to play their corners off so far that I could complete a pass to the receiver they are covering. Believe me, that’s saying a lot because I’m old and my arm isn’t what it used to be.
Making matters worse is the inability or unwillingness to adjust. While there was a move away from two deep safeties to more of a single-high in Minkah Fitzpatrick last night, it didn’t change much in terms of results. T.J. Watt cannot do it all by himself. When Nick Herbig and DeMarvin Leal left with injuries, it was just him and Jeremiah Moon. Where was the defensive line? Where were the blitzes up the middle or off the edges? I’ve checked. It IS within the rules to do this.
Again it goes back to Tomlin. If Arthur Smith was brought in just for Kenny Pickett, then why wasn’t he sent packing? Oh that’s right, because Art Rooney II doesn’t want to waste money on coordinators who have years left on their deals. It’s peanuts in the grand scheme of things! And why was Austin kept instead of Brian Flores? I’ll give you a hint. It likely has to do with Tomlin keeping control over the defense and Flores wasn’t going to agree to that per se.
Mike Tomlin is a good football coach who needs a reset. He needs to do some of that ‘self-scouting’ he talks about during the BYE week and apply it to himself. This isn’t going to get any better and it might not get much worse either but is that really the goal? Have we started to settle for ‘just good enough’ and not greatness?
This isn’t all on Tomlin by any means but if he’s the guy so many players want to play for then it’s time we see better results. And it starts with a look in the mirror.