Steelers ELIMINATED in Wild Card Round @ BAL + an Unfortunate Truth About Mike Tomlin
Photo via NFL+
The Steelers playoff drought will continue for at least another year, as they fell to the Baltimore Ravens 28-14 in the Wild Card Round that took place this past weekend. Like so many fans out there, I’m just so frustrated with the way we’ve been getting beat every single year in the playoffs, if we even make it that far. This team’s story, at least for the 2024 season, will end with a 5-game losing streak, including a Wild Card game that, quite frankly, they were lucky to be in.
To briefly gloss over what happened in that game, the Baltimore Ravens were just the better, more inspired team. They’re contending for a Super Bowl; they were hardly bothered by the lowly Pittsburgh Steelers. They were talking about the second round of the playoffs before this game was even played. Then, they followed it up by straight up beating our ass, rushing for a Ravens record 299 yards, averaging 6 yards per carry.
Via NFL Pro
In the first half of the game, Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry were giving the Steelers some serious problems with the zone read. It seemed like, maybe, the Steelers game planned to crash on Henry on those plays, maybe because of the way he ran the football against us last month. Whatever the case, those two are a truly special duo capable of keeping pace with any offense in the league, so nothing that I saw surprised me, necessarily. I’ll tell you what, though, Derrick Henry running at full speed before he even hits the line of scrimmage as often as he is really speaks to the offensive line and the play calling of the Baltimore Ravens. That play they ran in the first quarter where Derrick Henry was lined up at QB, and Lamar Jackson at WR running the little jet sweep action in what would be a big run by Derrick Henry….those are the kinds of plays that make me, as a diehard Steeler fan and having had to watch our offense over the last 8 or so years, very, very bitter. Then, at the very end of the first half, Lamar Jackson was shakin’ and bakin’ in the pocket and was able to create 7 seconds to throw the ball on the touchdown pass to Justice Hill. Again, that makes me feel bitter. But, that’s the reality of it. The Steelers have the league’s highest paid defense, and year after year it means absolutely nothing when we run into a real QB in the playoffs. It’s time to invest some real money and draft capital in the future of our offense. Times have changed.
Speaking of the offense, they didn’t make this game any easier to watch. The Steelers only possessed the ball for ⅓ of this game. Sure, a lot of that has to do with Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson playing lights out, but the offense wasn’t able to put together substantial drives outside of the two touchdown drives; both of which were awesome. As awesome as they were, however, the offensive play in this game was indicative of how the offense has been all season long: when we’re able to push the ball vertically, like we did on the two touchdown drives, the offense looks great…but as soon as teams take that away, we have basically nothing left.
We really abandoned the run in this game, which happens when you’re down 21-0 at half time. We had 11 rushes as a team in this game, two of which were scrambles by Russell Wilson, and one that was a kneel by Wilson to take us into halftime. So, really, we ran 8 rushing plays as a team that went for 23 yards.
Arthur Smith teased that he would be utilizing Justin Fields in this game, and then brought him in for one play that resulted in an incomplete pass. His name is being tossed around for head coaching positions around the league, but after how our offense performed this season, I can’t imagine any of those teams are actually going to want to hire him. My guess is that he would probably be back for another season. The only silver lining I find in that is that Justin Fields has said that he wants to remain with the Steelers, because he’s tired of learning new offenses and getting new head coaches. But, to state the obvious, the offense was underwhelming when you look at the year in totality, and that continues to be the side of the ball that holds this team back. I don’t know if Arthur Smith is a suitable long-term solution in that coordinator spot, so obviously I don’t love that.
It has become commonplace, around this time of year, for Steeler fans to take to social media and desperately beg the front office and ownership for change. And, this is a lot of years in a row, now, that the same guy has stood at the podium as a representative of the Pittsburgh Steelers and said that there needs to be change. That guy is Mike Tomlin. Most people that know me know that I’m one of the biggest Mike Tomlin supporters and apologists out there. In my opinion, he is a talented enough coach to get you to the playoffs every single season, and all you need is a ticket to the dance for a magical run to happen. I learned that in the 2005-06 playoffs, very early on in my life and fandom, when the 6th seed Pittsburgh Steelers ran through the gauntlet that year as a wild card team, including a game @ IND against Peyton Manning, and went on to win the Super Bowl. With that being said, I do want to point out something…
Mike Tomlin has been to two Super Bowls as a head coach and is 1-1 in those games. His last Super Bowl appearance was the 2010 season. That was 15 years ago. Since then, he is 3-9 in the postseason, and those three wins were against teams quarterbacked by: Matt Moore, A.J. McCarron, and Alex Smith. Not exactly all-time greats, no disrespect. Since Mike Tomlin’s last postseason win, he has been bounced from the “first round” of the playoffs in 5 consecutive appearances. I put the first round in quotes, because the 2017 season’s playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars (led by Blake Bortles mind you) occurred in the divisional round. This was back when the 1 and 2 seeded teams had wild card bye weeks, so the Steelers didn’t play in the wild card round. Regardless, Mike Tomlin went 0-1 that year in the playoffs is the point I’m trying to get across, while still being factually accurate. You have to go all the way back to the 2016 season to find Tomlin’s last playoff victory.
I appreciate the Pittsburgh Steelers’ consistency with their hiring practices and their approach to team building. With that being said, our team is severely behind the times. In 2024, the Steelers had the most expensive defense in the league, as well as one of the cheapest offenses in the league only outspending the Packers, Raiders, and Titans. Our team, that spends like THAT, and refuses to heavily invest in their offense, expects us to compete in the AFC with guys like Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, C.J. Stroud, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbit…maybe Bo Nix? That old adage “Defense wins championships” doesn’t carry as much weight as it once did. Sure, you need a good defense to win in today’s league, but you also need a prolific offense, something the Steelers haven’t had in 9 years. Our highest paid defense looked great, on paper, coming into the season, but we were down 21-0 to Lamar Jackson at halftime the other day. Last season, in the wild card round, we were down 21-0 to Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills at one point. In 2021, we allowed Patrick Mahomes to score 35 unanswered points in the wild card round and LOST. This old way of winning where you try to dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball is just failing right now. They tried to force it this year, and it was painfully evident that they don’t have the personnel for it. The Steelers have been the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th best team in the league for far too long, and the only constant, at this point, his been Mike Tomlin. And, the Steelers aren’t going to fire Mike Tomlin right now. They just gave him an extension several months ago. So, I’m not going to imply that they should fire him. However, at the very least, a philosophical switch needs to happen on the offensive side of the ball, and I don’t know that I trust Tomlin to hire the right guy to do that. That is obviously me also saying that I don’t want Arthur Smith to be that guy, even though he probably will be next season.
I’m saying all of this to say, what has happened to us in recent years has been absolutely miserable, and unfortunately, there’s nothing that they’re going to add this offseason that’s going to make the result any different or any less disappointing next season. We are in purgatory, and will be until we find a real difference maker at the QB position, and put enough weapons around them. I suppose the last shred of hope I have to hold onto is that maybe…just maybe…Justin Fields will take a step having had a chance to watch from the sideline for a bit. I’m going to take the rest of this week to think about some of the changes I would like to see, but again, I’m not expecting anything groundbreaking.
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