Mike Tomlin reveals his locker room message to Steelers after Lions tie
By Josh Hill
Mike Tomlin post game comments after a 16-16 tie with the Lions were short and to the point, speaking louder than any screaming match he could have gotten into.
To say things were sloppy in Sunday’s game between the Lions and Steelers would be to tremendously undersell just how ugly things were.
Pittsburgh ended up tying with the still-winless Lions in a game that no one is particularly proud of their involvement. Dan Campbell and the Lions are probably a little less bothered about the outcome, but the Steelers have little to be happy about following a game they should have won during a week where a victory would have went a long way in changing the shape of the AFC North playoff chase.
Baltimore lost on Thursday and Cleveland got its doors blown off in New England. The only thing that stood between the Steelers being 6-4 and in a virtual tie for the AFC North lead was a victory at home over the Lions.
Unfortunately that task proved to be too tall.
Mike Tomlin post game message to Steelers
After the stunning tie, ESPN’s Brooke Pryor spoke with Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin after the tie who revealed his message to the team in the locker room.
“I acknowledged the fight, but I didn’t congratulate them for it,” Tomlin said. “Just too sloppy to win.”
Short, sweet, and accurate.
Nothing went well for the Steelers on Sunday, and it goes beyond simply blaming the absence of Ben Roethlisberger. Big Ben tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, and despite being vaccinated against the virus was ineligible to play on Sunday afternoon. That meant the ball was in Mason Rudolph’s hands, which seemed capable of not much more than a tie in the rain.
It probably doesn’t help that Roethlisberger reportedly didn’t have any contact with Rudolph leading up to the game.
Mason Rudolph says he didn’t talk to Ben Roethlisberger leading up to Sunday’s game after Mike Tomlin told him Roethlisberger would be out.
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) November 14, 2021
The Steelers who were on the field are the only ones to blame, however. Detroit has played in a handful of hard fought games this season, but they’re still winless and a Super Bowl contending team should be able to handle a winless team at home in November.
Not the Steelers, though, and Tomlin’s short message spoke louder than any screaming rant could had.