andrew grimm
“Where is the battle?”
“There’s no backlash at all.”
“This doesn’t look like the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
“They look uninspired.”
“Out of focus”
These were released on Amazon Prime as the Steelers fell into yet another deep hole in the playoffs, ending a late-season collapse and suffering yet another embarrassing playoff loss to end another disappointing season. It was a phrase used on the broadcast.
If you look at one of those statements again; “This doesn’t look like the Pittsburgh Steelers.” Kirk Herbstreit’s words aren’t accurate when Baltimore was leading 21-0, gaining over 300 yards in the first half against the NFL’s most expensive defense. This has been the case for the Pittsburgh Steelers for the past 10 years under manager Mike Tomlin.
Towards the end of Big Ben’s career, he was accused of being too far past his prime. The team is obviously missing out on replacing Kenny Pickett, and last year Mason Rudolph started in a playoff game.
They brought in Super Bowl winner Russell Wilson, but what happened on the field in the first half Saturday night was even worse than the first playoff game between an aging Ben and an inexperienced Mason Rudolph.
The playoff failures happened under different offensive coordinators. Every time there was a flare-up, the defense, which had different parts, pieces and coordinators in place, flared up again. And again. And again.
The only thing that hasn’t changed is the man at the top and the end result.
At some point, enough has to be enough, even for organizations that are famous for not firing coaches.
I believe Mike Tomlin is a good coach and a good man. But a good coach runs his course. Better coaches were fired elsewhere for far fewer disappointments than the Steelers have experienced over the past decade.
In another early hole (outscored 73-0 in the first quarter during a six-game playoff losing streak), Tomlin refused to go for less than a yard on fourth down. Losing 21-0, getting manhandled in every way and an offense that hasn’t played well in over a month, they put Wilson back on the field and Justin Fields, who was an early starter and led the team to a 4-2 record. I was sent off. He’ll at least give a different look during the season, maybe even a spark, and stand on the sidelines for the final month or more.
The defense was dominated in the trenches, and all of Baltimore’s scoring came from running plays, more than a dozen of which were without passes, aimed right at the throats of the once-proud Steelers defense. Playing against the Pittsburgh Steelers defense. When I was growing up, that was unthinkable. It’s embarrassing.
The offense finally got going to start the second half — Wilson showed some life on two drives, but quickly regressed — and what happened? The defense allowed a 44-yard TD run and beat the Bucs again.
That defense is still the highest-paid unit in the entire NFL and has given up the most yards after contact of any team this season. On the ground, he gave up a goal short of 300 yards.
The plan, as tired as it was, was to take out Derek Henry and let Lamar Jackson beat them. Regardless, Henry still cut close to 200 yards. That’s a great plan.
A complete and utter failure in every aspect of the game, on every side of the ball.
Unprepared, they were once again blown out of the water early and were once again not much of a threat to win the game.
No has yet to come back from a hole as deep as he did against the AFC’s elite teams like the Ravens, Bills and Chiefs. Especially not with the Steelers offense this time around. Those teams might as well be playing different sports. It’s not the same sport the Steelers have been playing for the past decade.
Tomlin is right about everything, but what happens in the playoffs speaks louder than his words — and has been for a long time.
So when will enough be enough?
TJ Watt and Cam Heyward’s Hall of Fame prime careers were essentially wasted. Neither of them are getting any younger. If you think the defense is bad in big situations now, wait until one or both are gone.
Wilson and Fields are both free agents, so there’s a good chance we’ll see even more new quarterbacks next season. Even if Wilson comes back, he’s 36 years old and it shows. They didn’t pick up the option on Fields, so unless he re-signs (and why on earth would they want to re-sign?), they don’t have any younger options. There aren’t a lot of great QBs in this draft class, and they’ve already missed out on the position in the draft, which is why these two are here in the first place.
Will Kyle Allen be the starting QB?
After 20 years of keeping a Hall of Famer at the position and giving him a constant chance to compete, the Steelers QB situation resembles that of another team in the division wearing orange and brown. It’s coming.
The purpose of bringing in Wilson in the first place was to give an experienced player one more run and delay a complete rebuild. That didn’t happen.
Now it’s being demolished regardless. It must be so. We can’t delay it any longer. This team is far from doing well in any way. It’s obvious now. It must have been that way for a long time.
Tomlin is not the only problem, and never will be, but at some point the commonality of all the problems becomes very clear and obvious.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a different QB, coordinator, other staff, or players at different positions. Same result. Same head coach, same thing in common.
It’s time for a complete rebuild under a new coach.
When will enough be enough? That’s enough for a while.
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