Pittsburgh collapsed harder than the field did in the movie The Dark Knight Rises, and now it’s time to make sure it never happens again.
Embarrassment and football typically don’t go together in Pittsburgh. The franchise is storied and the team is competitive every single year. It’s rare that the team is as thoroughly embarrassed as it was on Sunday when the Jaguars hung 42-points on them in an upset win.
Knee-jerk reactions will be that the team must make wholesale changes. That’s irrational at best, and wrong at worst. Nevertheless, things do need to happen in order for the Steelers to avoid the type of utter embarrassment they suffered at the hands of Blake Bortles.
That’s right when Blake Bortles is dancing on your grave, heads will roll. Nothing as drastic as firing Mike Tomlin or trading Ben Roethlisberger will happen, but there are a few things that need to happen this offseason.
3. Fire Todd Haley
There will be a scapegoat, and the most likely candidate is Todd Haley. On more than one occasion on Sunday Haley’s play-calling cost the Steelers a chance to maintain momentum. Whether it was a third-down and short where he called a pitch to the outside (it failed) or his management late in the game on third and fourth down situations, Haley does not look good after this disaster of a game.
Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t have that much time left in football, so he might oppose the idea of learning a new offense with a new coordinator. However, the smart decision could be to promote Randy Fichtner or bring in someone who won’t shake things up more than they have to be but will utilize the skill position weapons that the Steelers have but failed to win with on Sunday.