What coaches and players say publicly is usually a filtered version—the dressed-up truth (if it’s the truth at all). But every so often, frustration boils over and the real story slips out. That’s what it felt like took place inside the Pittsburgh Steelers’ locker room after their loss to the Chicago Bears. One beat writer says that’s probably not a good sign.
“I know it’s only 10 or 15 minutes after a game ends, but when your players feel comfortable enough to say that about the coaching, that’s not good,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo said Wednesday on 93.7 The Fan’s Morning Show. “Whether it’s schematics or personnel, I tend to think it’s a little of both, but I mean what they’re doing isn’t working. We thought they had it fixed for a few weeks when they put [Jalen] Ramsey and [Kyle] Dugger back there, and then it comes unglued again and we’re kind of back to square one.”
The main culprit in this story is defensive quarterback Patrick Queen. He should know the defense better than anybody because he is the one fielding calls from the sideline and communicating them to the rest of the team. And when asked about some of the unit’s biggest blunders on Sunday, Queen was quick to point to schematic issues. Which is another way to say the coaching staff isn’t putting them in the best position to succeed.
CB Brandin Echols was much less direct, but he said that players and coaches need to get better. Coaches don’t often get mentioned by players unless things are going really poorly for an extended period of time. I would say that being ranked 28th in total defense and 20th in scoring defense through 12 weeks of a season is enough sustained futility to qualify.
For a frame of reference, this defense passed the legendary 2008 defense’s marks for total points allowed in an entire season after just 10 games and total yards after just 11 games. If their total defense ranking holds, it will be the worst in franchise history, toppling the abysmal 1988 defense that finished 28th. For all the jokes about Mike Tomlin’s “historic” defense comments before the season, I don’t think anybody expected it to go this poorly.
Multiple beat reporters who spend time in the locker room noted that this most recent loss felt different. One even went so far as to say there was an attitude of “resignation” in the room. Breaking rank and venting frustration about coaching and schematics is as sure a sign of that as anything.
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