The Pittsburgh Steelers had plenty of opportunities to beat the Chicago Bears. Unfortunately, things didn’t go their way, and they lost 31-28. There were some curious decisions made by Mike Tomlin down the stretch, too. The biggest of which was punting the ball when the Steelers were down three points with two minutes left in the game. Tomlin revealed that he never considered going for it on that fourth down, despite the game’s results.
“I did not,” Tomlin said after the game via the team’s YouTube channel. “I was holding all three [timeouts], and as you can see, we got the ball back.”
Yes, the Steelers had all three timeouts at that point. Tomlin’s logic is easy to follow. The Steelers put a lot of pride in their defense, and Tomlin trusted that unit could get a quick three-and-out. To be fair, as he mentions, they did just that. The Bears bled less than 30 seconds off the clock on their following drive.
Also, the Steelers weren’t facing a 4th-and-short when Tomlin elected to punt. It was 4th-and-9 on their own 23-yard line. The Steelers’ offense wasn’t doing much. Had they tried to convert and failed, the game would’ve essentially been over.
Instead, the Steelers’ offense got another crack at tying or winning the game. Sadly, that group continued to struggle. The Steelers reached midfield, just outside Chris Boswell’s range, but turned the ball over on downs.
Additionally, the Steelers had already failed to convert a 4th-and-short earlier in that same game. Their offense sputtered for most of the second half. That might also help explain why Tomlin put the game in the hands of the defense rather than the offense.
Perhaps Tomlin deciding not to punt would’ve changed the game’s outcome. However, what’s done is done. There’s no changing things now. Tomlin often takes the more conservative approach in those scenarios. The Steelers squandered plenty of other chances to win that game.
Now, they’ve lost their lead in the AFC North. They’ve got plenty of challenging games left on their schedule, too. The Steelers’ loss to the Bears was a tough one, especially because they almost won without Aaron Rodgers. Tomlin’s decision to punt didn’t cost the Steelers the game, but it was an example of a slight misstep that added to their failure.
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