You couldn’t be blamed if Tom Petty’s ‘Free Fallin’ is playing on a loop in your head. The late singer-songwriter had a way of telling a story that few others could and now? This particular song is the Pittsburgh Steelers in a nutshell.
The Black and Gold dropped their fourth straight game losing 19-17 to the Cincinnati Bengals in the season finale. They are officially in free fall and now must prepare to travel to either Baltimore or Houston. At this point, it feels like we are doing nothing more than waiting for the doctor to pull the plug. This team… This fan base… Needs to be put out of its misery.
The Blame Game
Looking for someone to blame this fiasco on? It starts at the top and no, I don’t mean Mike Tomlin. Start with Art Rooney II who operates this franchise as if he’s waiting for the 1970’s to suddenly happen again. Tomlin is not without blame though and we all know it but he has company.
Teryl Austin’s defense – after a horrendous first two series of the game – settled in to allow just nine over the final three quarters. But that doesn’t take away the previous three games where his static system was dismantled as if a toddler was knocking over blocks. It really was that easy for opposing offenses.
Arthur Smith has now done something that Matt Canada didn’t even do. In his entire tenure as OC, Canada only had one game where the offense generated less than 200 yards. Smith has accomplished this twice in the last four weeks. Opposing defenses have adjusted to what he’s doing and he hasn’t countered. At all.
The coaches aren’t the only ones to be at fault for this disaster. Russell Wilson has been a train wreck. He can’t see over the line of scrimmage and when defenses take away his first option he’s under pressure instantly because the line in front of him has regressed all season. Pat Meyer will be out of job later this month I guarantee it.
And what about “Mr. Always Open?” George Pickens was targeted six times last night. He caught one and dropped three. He also had to be restrained by Pat Freiermuth on the sidelines after getting into a verbal altercation with fans in the stands. This guy is immensely talented but ridiculously immature and if I’m Omar Khan I’m listening to trade offers.
Wilson and Pickens (and the coaching staff) are low-hanging fruit though. The secondary has been a mess most of the year. It’s often like they are all speaking different languages prior to every snap and it’s exactly what led players to speak out after the Christmas Day loss.
There is good news though! The Steelers still have a chance to do something magical. All of this could be a distant memory if they can just win a postseason game. I know what you’re thinking though. “Don’t Do Me Like That” because that’s just not happening.
Thanks Tom Petty.
