The Steelers are on track for another 9-8 season. While Mike Tomlin prides himself on winning football, 9-8 doesn't guarantee much in this league, minus the slim possibility of making the AFC Postseason as a Wild Card team and bragging rights among NFL elites. The media loves Tomlin, mostly because he's never technically been bad.
This isn't a Tomlin hit piece, but a reality check. If the Steelers are to emerge from whatever football purgatory they're in – and I'm talking solely about this season – it's about time they start taking some chances, and sticking with those techniques.
The Steelers are scared to throw over the middle of the field
Tomlin has a saying, and he tends to use it in a lot of his press conference. He doesn't want players to play in their fears, and he wants the Steelers to embody that mindset. Why, then, does he coach in his fears?
Arthur Smith calls plays on offense. This is not solely on Tomlin, but it's a pattern of his. No matter who the offensive coordinator is, they have the same deficiency, and tend to avoid the same area of the field in the passing game.
Whether the quarterback is Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, Mason Rudolph, Russell Wilson, Justin Fields or even Aaron Rodgers, it doesn't matter. The majority of interceptions in the NFL happen deep and across the middle, therefore Tomlin's teams – and whoever is calling plays for those offenses – avoid it altogether. That sounds smart in theory, but if the Steelers are unwilling to take chances across the middle, it also makes them utterly predictable.
Why is this so hard?!
— Tommy Jaggi (@TommyJaggi) November 23, 2025
You're offense is never going to have any sort of upside until you start using the middle of the field.
Different year, same old problems. #Steelers pic.twitter.com/WQpXeRIJTD
Rudolph, who had a blank slate coming into this game as the backup quarterback, was forced to play under a conservative gameplan. Sure, he let it rip a few times, but rarely on plays that could've resulted in a turnover. Heck, Rudolph's only interception came on a phenomenal play by Bears defensive back Nahshon Wright. As Still Curtain's Tommy Jaggi pointed out, the Steelers hardly ever throw to the middle of the field. Rodgers as broken that trend every now and then, but it's become ever so clear that this is a Tomlin demand, rather than a request by his play-callers.
Across 3 different OCs and 7 different QBs (a total of six seasons), the Steelers have abandoned the MOF.
— Nick Farabaugh (@FarabaughFB) November 23, 2025
Part of it is the profile of QB they want, but I do think it's a Tomlin thing.
MOF is fertile for explosives, but also the area most INTs occur....thus this is the idea. https://t.co/xRJFyhuvcn
Tomlin's defense lives and dies with turnover differential. Therefore it makes a lot of sense that he wouldn't want to risk giving opposing defenses the ball when his quarterbacks are – how do we put this – subpar. It's also a losing formula, though, that won't result in the postseason success Steelers fans are hoping for.
Even the Steelers defense is playing scared
The Steelers defense, which finally pivoted away from a single-high look that was devoted to stopping the run game the last few weeks, went back to their worst habits on Sunday. Pittsburgh played single-high on over 60 percent of their snaps. They featured a third cornerback on just 44 percent of those snaps.
Considering the Steelers struggles against the pass this season – and against the Bears on Sunday – it's rather surprising that Tomlin is so, so hell-bent on stopping the run. Yes, Pittsburgh's season ended in miserable fashion against Baltimore last year for just that reason, but the Steelers have been shredded against the pass in 2025-26. This is a much different team, made up of different personnel.
Despite trying to improve their secondary this offseason in hopes of playing more man-to-man coverage, thus devoting more personnel to the run, it hasn't quite worked out how Tomlin planned. Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson put them on notice Sunday.
Steelers didn't run nearly as much of their two-high stuff today.
— Nick Farabaugh (@FarabaughFB) November 23, 2025
A lot of single-high looks. 63% of their snaps came out of pre-snap single-high shells with 44.74% of those plays being C3.
What makes matters more frustrating is that the Steelers defense was finally starting to make some progress. They moved Jalen Ramsey to safety. Darius Slay has received less playing time than ever. Younger defensive backs like Joey Porter Jr., James Pierre and Brandin Echols were playing up to a par in a system that better fit them.
Tomlin abandoned it all because he wanted to stop the Bears running game, which was hardly the problem in what many described as a must-win game this week. It doesn't get any easier for the Steelers over the holidays, as they face the Bills, Lions and Ravens in three out of the next four matchups.
If Tomlin coaches scared against those teams, the Steelers will be out of the playoff race before you can say Roethlisberger.