Everything Needs To Be On The Table In Pittsburgh
Photo Credit: Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports
What began as a season rife with expectations has descended into nothingness and despair.
On the verge of again missing the playoffs, the Pittsburgh Steelers are at their lowest point of the Mike Tomlin era.
Through the first 13 weeks of the season, there was still hope. But now Steeler Nation must temper expectations going forward.
At this point, it doesn’t matter what happens the rest of the season — whether the Steelers make the playoffs or not, 2023-2024 has largely been a holistic failure from the top down.
The current iteration of the Steelers will likely lose most of, if not all, the remaining three games to the Cincinnati Bengals, Seattle Seahawks, and Baltimore Ravens to finish 7-10 — Tomlin’s first losing season in Pittsburgh.
In fact, it’s probably for the best that the team misses the postseason at this point. They’d be able to begin the offseason sooner, and be able to begin the much-needed self-evaluation process.
Tomlin still has enough good will to remain as head coach, and he should. But as it will be the final season of his current contract, he will be coaching for his job in 2024. Hopefully that provides the proper motivation for him to approach the situation with urgency and implement the changes that must be made.
First and foremost, Tomlin and the Steelers need to clean house of the offensive coaching staff. Parting ways with Matt Canada was the first step, but now Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan and the rest of the position coaches must go too. No one who has been a part of the abomination that has been the Steelers’ offense the last few years can remain.
In their place, Art Rooney, Omar Khan, and Tomlin must bring in an innovative offensive coaching staff — ideally someone from the Kyle Shanahan/Sean McVay/Andy Reid coaching tree.
Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik was an offensive assistant under Shanahan with the San Francisco 49ers before going with DeMeco Ryans to Houston, and has revitalized the Texans’ offense with rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud. Slowik or someone similar is who the Steelers should look to target.
Teryl Austin and the rest of the defensive staff are probably okay to remain intact. The mounting injury count on that side of the ball is the likely culprit for its shortcomings.
But personnel-wise, George Pickens should receive the Chase Claypool treatment and be traded. His apathy is poisoning the team and the fanbase.
The team should move on from Allen Robinson, and the Steelers must go back to the drawing board to fill out the other receivers around Diontae Johnson and Pat Freiermuth. The offensive line must also be addressed.
As for the culture within the locker room, there’s no short or easy answer. Not everyone has the same approach and work ethic that Cameron Heyward, T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick do.
“I think too many people don’t want to toil for it. They just want to walk out here and think that they’re going to make plays and think that they’re going to perform at a high level. I think we need to have more people who want to work for it, not expect it to be handed to them,” Fitzpatrick said to ESPN after the loss to the New England Patriots. “This is the NFL. Nothing’s handed to you. You gotta earn everything. I think that dudes just think that because they’re wearing the black and gold that they’re going to win games, and I think we need to check that mentality and make people realize that they got to earn that mentality.”
Too many players aren’t listening to the messages that Tomlin is trying to get across. Pickens is the obvious one, but it’s hard to tell from an outsider’s perspective which players Fitzpatrick might be referring to.
“Let’s be honest, we’re a fundamentally poor football team right now. We’re playing losing football, and I own that,” Tomlin said after the loss to the Indianapolis Colts. “I don’t necessarily have the answers today. If I did, we’d have played differently today. But I will acknowledge things will not continue the way they are.”
One thing’s for sure, after the failure of this season, the Steelers’ leadership must be introspective and look inward this offseason — wholesale changes are needed to get this team back to its winning ways.
“Everything is on the table at this juncture. We cannot continue to play football like this,” Tomlin said. “We’ve got to make changes and we need to do it immediately.”
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