The Pittsburgh Steelers played some ugly football in their 25-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 10. Most of the Steelers’ issues were on the offensive side of the ball, marking the second straight week that Pittsburgh’s offense has struggled. But head coach Mike Tomlin is confident that the team can solve its issues. In his postgame press conference, Tomlin said the Steelers will be “back” and “better.”
“You’re not gonna win football games [by] not converting third down and losing the turnover battle. We were certainly loose with the ball on several instances and didn’t convert enough third downs. And so that’s the end result. There’s nothing mystical about it. We’ll be back, we’ll be better, we have to be, but we certainly weren’t tonight,” Tomlin said via the team’s YouTube channel.
Vegas certainly expects the Steelers to be better, as Pittsburgh is nearly a touchdown favorite in Week 11 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Tomlin’s vow that the team will be back wasn’t just for the press conference either, as he told the NBC Sports panel of Rodney Harrison, Tony Dungy, and Jac Collinsworth that the Steelers “will be back” postgame.
The bright side for the Steelers is that the defense is playing well. It was a unit that forced five turnovers, with another coming on special teams in Week 9. It failed to force any tonight, though. Even without the turnovers, the defensive performance wasn’t the issue. There were some lapses, but for the most part, the defense did its job.
The issue was on the offensive side of the ball. The Steelers have a 41-year-old veteran quarterback who knows how to navigate the highs and lows of the season. Sunday’s loss to the Chargers was one of the worst games of his career, and he took full responsibility for the struggles. Everything that went wrong is fixable, and with a veteran coach and veteran quarterback, the Steelers can figure things out and regroup for a home game in Week 11.
At 5-4, there isn’t much margin for error, though, especially with the 4-5 Baltimore Ravens nipping on the heels of the Steelers in the AFC North race. As Tomlin said, the Steelers have to be better. If this is going to be a playoff team, the issues have to be fixed for next week and can’t linger.
A Week 11 rematch against a Bengals team that has struggled mightily on defense will be a good litmus test to see if the Steelers can get back on track, as Tomlin believes.
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