This past season, the Pittsburgh Steelers dealt with a lot of adversity. They started off hot, being 10-3 at one point. However, things eventually went south. The Steelers completely collapsed to end the year, looking far from a playoff team. That showed in the postseason, too, where they got crushed by the Baltimore Ravens. Former Steelers safety Ryan Clark was critical of the team during that period of time, but it sounds like Mike Tomlin had no problem with what he said.
“I saw Coach [Tomlin] this offseason,” Clark said Friday on his podcast, The Pivot. “And he goes, ‘Everybody be running up to me and talking about, you hear what [Clark] said?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah I heard him, and he was right.'”
While some former players who become analysts might be afraid to criticize their former team, Clark didn’t hold back when talking about the Steelers. He didn’t sugarcoat things. They were playing like a bad team, so that’s what he called them.
Cam Heyward was on that same episode, and he also made it clear he has no problem with Clark’s comments. He even sounded appreciative that Clark was willing to be so honest.
“I will say you keep it more honest than some people,” Heyward said. “Teddy Bruschi, I ain’t never heard him talk about like that with New England. You have been very honest and we gotta be able to take that on the chin.”
Heyward is correct that the Steelers shouldn’t ignore criticism, especially when they play poorly. Their ultimate goal is to win a Super Bowl, so they should be upset when they play as bad as they did to end 2024. Maybe they can take comments from people like Clark and use that as motivation. It’s good that they don’t expect him, as a former Steeler, to always defend them in the media.
Clark spoke about how it can be difficult for him sometimes as a former Steeler to talk about Pittsburgh at his new job.
“I talked to Omar Khan about this…It’s a very tricky position to be in when someone associates you with one team to talk about that team. It’s a tricky position to be in to talk about your friends, whether I’m speaking about you or I’m talking about coach Tomlin, Omar, these people I know.”
Clark does likely find himself in difficult positions sometimes. He won a Super Bowl with the Steelers, spending most of his best years in Pittsburgh. He’s still got a lot of connections in that building. However, in order to do his current job correctly, he can’t let that bias influence him too much. Obviously, he can still root for the team, but sometimes, it’s alright to say they aren’t playing well.
Knowing the kind of coach Tomlin is, he’s probably using any criticism from people like Clark as motivation. It’s his job to make sure things like that don’t happen. The Steelers’ failures are a direct reflection of his work.
Clark has been a staunch defender of Tomlin, but he’s directed some of his criticism at the head coach. He hasn’t called for Tomlin’s job, but he has wondered if maybe the head coach should alter his approach. That’s fair. With how lost the Steelers looked to close out 2024, it felt like something needed to change.
When your team loses four-straight games to end the year, and then they put up a dud in the playoffs, you probably deserve some criticism. Tomlin and Clark are both adults, though, so it’s nice to hear that isn’t impacting their relationship. Tomlin probably doesn’t want to give Clark any reason to be critical of the Steelers in 2025. Hopefully, that ends up being the case.
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