There are a myriad of reasons why the Pittsburgh Steelers dropped a frustrating game to the Chicago Bears in Week 12 at Soldier Field Sunday, from struggles offensively with backup quarterback Mason Rudolph in the game, to the defense struggling to generate much of a pass rush or hold up in coverage on the back end.
But one of the biggest areas Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin cited Tuesday during his weekly press conference happened to be special teams. Tomlin praised Chicago kicker Cairo Santos for his work on kickoffs, creating challenges for the Steelers.
One Steelers player drew Tomlin’s ire a bit though, at least on special teams. That would be punter Corliss Waitman. Tomlin made a head-scratching decision late in the fourth quarter of the loss, punting on a 4th and 9 with 2:01 left in the game. Though the Steelers ultimately got the ball back with a chance to tie or win the game, Waitman didn’t help his coach’s decision to punt, uncorking a 33-yarder that gave the Bears great field position.
Tomlin cited Waitman as a guy who needs to be better.
“I thought in the latter part of the game, we needed better timely punting, particularly in the waning moments of the game, I think our last punt was 33 yards,” Tomlin said, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “Certainly been pleased with Corliss’ body of work over the greater portion of the season, but we needed a little bit more last Sunday, so I’m excited about him bouncing back from that as we lean in on this week’s opportunity.”
The 33-yard punt late in the fourth quarter was the culmination of a bad day for Waitman. He averaged just 35.3 yards on three punts Sunday, which was a season-low. Outside of his 33-yard punt, Waitman had a 39-yard punt and a 34-yard punt. He simply wasn’t good enough.
Though one Waitman punt was downed inside the 10-yard line, it was wiped out by a penalty on Ben Skowronek, which made no sense whatsoever. Waitman’s punt was 54 yards and a good one. After Skowronek’s penalty, Waitman had his 34-yard punt, giving the Bears the ball at their 40-yard line.
Fix plays later, Chicago QB Caleb Williams hit a wide-open DJ Moore for a 25-yard score, giving the Bears a lead they’d never relinquish.
On the season, Waitman is putting up very similar numbers to what he did last season after taking over for the injured Cam Johnston. After winning the job in training camp and the preseason, Waitman is averaging 46.4 yards per punt this season, the same exact number he put up last year.
He also has 14 punts downed inside the 20-yard line, putting him on pace to match the 27 he recorded last season. But on Sunday, for one week at least, Waitman had a bad day. And that performance didn’t please Tomlin.
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