George Pickens' stunning lack of effort shows Mike Tomlin has lost the Steelers' locker room

It seems as though Mike Tomlin has lost the Pittsburgh Steelers' locker room. Fresh off their third loss in a row, the Steelers are now 7-7 on the year, looking more and more like a team that is not going to finish the season with a 9-8 record. Their 30-13 defeat to the Indianapolis Colts was not only devastating for the Steelers' Wild Card chances, but players like George Pickens are quietly quitting.

Pickens may only be in year two of his rookie contract out of Georgia, but the former Bulldogs standout is making some business decisions. He is not alone in this, but not blocking in a crucial red-zone spot is a horrible look. This offense aspires to be hot garbage, especially with Kenny Pickett out and looking more and more like a bust with each passing week. I get it, but you do have to try, man...

Despite being one of the most well-respected and longest tenured head coaches in the NFL, the Steelers need to reboot it in the worst way possible. Pittsburgh has not won a Super Bowl in going on 15 years and have not even been to one in well over a decade now. Despite being playoff viable throughout, 9-8 is not even close to good enough in the deep AFC. Something has to give, alright.

Here is Pickens demonstrating precisely zero effort in trying to block a Colts defender on Saturday.

Rather than spending Christmas in the hospital, Pickens made a business decision on this bad pass.

It stinks to see a tremendous talent like Pickens not giving his all, but the Steelers do feel hopeless.

George Pickens' lack of hustle is such an indictment of Mike Tomlin

Pickens' talent coming out of Georgia was undeniable. The Steelers recognized to draft their latest star wide receiver. The issue with Pickens was never going to be if his game could translate to the next level, but if his mercurial personality would get in the way of his success. Sure, you could call him a front-runner here if you wanted to, but what a flaming bag of crap this Steelers offense has been.

The Pickett draft pick is blowing up in the Steelers' face currently. There were a lot of Bubby Bristers in between Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh. It was an impossible spot for Pickett to even think about living up to the hype, given that he was a local product coming out. While Pickens should be playing hard for his teammates, this coaching staff is so far beyond cooked, bruh.

The Steelers are a proud organization, one that has had only three head coaches in something like half a century. Tomlin's team used to be good; what happened? Clearly, the way the Steelers handle adversity, almost always of the self-inflicted variety now, is getting old and to the point it is not working. The Steelers could cut or trade Pickens, but what good would that do? This team is awful.

As the season drags on, the more and more likely Tomlin gets a new start elsewhere in a huge trade.