Just a month ago, everything was fine and dandy with Mike Tomlin’s Pittsburgh Steelers. They were 4-1, well above the rest of the division, with Baltimore and Cincinnati both struggling with injuries.
Now, the vibe is entirely different. The Steelers have lost three of their last four, and now hold a one-game lead over Baltimore. Although they’re still leading the division, Yahoo Sports’ Frank Schwab thinks the Steelers might be dead in the water.
“Oh yeah, the Steelers are awful. They’re a bad football team. The Ravens are gonna have this thing clinched by mid-December. Like, they’re bad,” Schwab said Monday on the Inside Coverage podcast. “Before the one garbage-time drive, Aaron Rodgers’ passer rating was 19.5. His career low was 34; his great, long career. He had the worst game of his career in many ways on Sunday. I don’t think this boat is turning back around. It’s sinking. It ain’t good for the Steelers… They’re in trouble; honestly, Tomlin might be in trouble.”
The last three losses have been discouraging because in each of them, the Steelers have not played complementary football. Against Cincinnati, the offense was humming, yet the defense couldn’t hold on. Against Green Bay, it was a total collapse in the second half. And in Los Angeles, the defense kept them in the game for a while, as the offense kept tripping over its own feet.
However, it feels like a reach to say the Steelers can’t turn things around. Obviously, there are plenty of reasons to be pessimistic. But they are just a week and a half removed from a dominant win over Indianapolis, who still sit first in the AFC. This team has proven it’s capable of beating top teams, with their win over New England earlier in the year giving them victories over two of the top three teams in the conference.
With Sunday’s matchup against Cincinnati and two more against Baltimore, the Steelers will have opportunities to keep their divisional competitors down.
Schwab insinuates that Mike Tomlin might be in trouble, but it would be extremely surprising if the Steelers actually decided to move on from him. That won’t happen, but he does deserve some criticism for the way the last few losses have played out. Schematics aside, the Steelers have imploded in each of their previous two losses to Green Bay and Los Angeles. They’ve had no composure in either, and let things snowball way too fast. That’s an indictment of the leader of the locker room, which, of course, is Tomlin.
That said, Tomlin is a good coach, and he does get his teams to rebound after tough losses. The Steelers’ win over the Colts was a great example of that. It still feels too early to count this team out completely.
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