3 Mike Tomlin fireable offenses that could cost Steelers a playoff spot
By Mark Powell
The Pittsburgh Steelers season could very well hang in the balance on Thursday night against the New England Patriots. Two losses in the last three weeks against the Browns and Cardinals have put Pittsburgh in an unfortunately-familiar position under Mike Tomlin -- fighting for their playoff lives.
To make matters even worse, Pittsburgh will be without starting quarterback Kenny Pickett for the next few weeks. Pickett suffered an ankle injury and will go under the knife, hoping to return by Week 18 if the Steelers need him. For now, it's the Mitch Trubisky show, with Mason Rudolph slotted in as the backup QB. One could argue that Rudolph is the better option, but we're splitting hairs with that debate.
This isn't to say that Tomlin is a bad head coach. His streak without a losing season is impressive. Yet, he also hasn't won a playoff game in quite some time. The Steelers are stuck in mediocrity, unable to rebuild yet also far from being a Super Bowl contender.
For any other head coach, the decisions made by Tomlin this season would put them squarely on the hot seat.
Mike Tomlin fireable offenses: Losing to the Arizona Cardinals
I don't mean to harp on this too much, but losing to the 2-10 Cardinals was inexcusable. Pittsburgh's offense looked inept, and the defense gave up a 99-yard drive in the second half to essentially put the game away. Arizona has little desire to win football games at this point in the year, even with a healthy Kyler Murray. Tomlin has a habit of losing at least one inexplicable game each season, and (hopefully) he got that out of his system in Week 13.
“That was a horrible day at the office. We didn’t do much right in that game, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin told reporters. “We have to own that, obviously, starting first and foremost with me. Just losing football. It really was. We were highly penalized, some pre-snap penalties, some operational penalties, bad snaps. Just JV football in a lot of ways.”
Tomlin is fantastic leader of men, in that he will always take responsibility when his team loses a game it shouldn't. At some point, though, results matter more than words. This keeps happening, and comments by the likes of Jaylen Warren, who admitted the Steelers took the Cardinals lightly, reflect poorly on leadership.