PITTSBURGH — It's one thing for Rocky Bleier to criticize a Mike Tomlin team. He might be a Steelers legend, but he didn't play for Tomlin and the two aren't close. That's why when Bleier made incendiary observations such as "the Steelers suck" and the team is "a disaster," you just sort of laughed and moved on.
But it's something much different when Ryan Clark is doing the lambasting. He played for Tomlin from 2007-13 and is extremely close to him. That was clear when Tomlin appeared on Clark's "The Pivot" podcast in June.
Clark smooched Tomlin's behind that day, but this was his tweet after the Steelers were smashed by the Buffalo Bills on Sunday:
"Mike Tomlin is my favorite football coach. With that be said no matter what the roster looks like your team has to be prepared, be in proper positions to succeed, and dang fight! The Steelers did not fight today, and that goes back to the head coach."
Clark expanded Monday on ESPN:
"The one thing we always gave the Pittsburgh Steelers credit for was fighting. This team didn't fight. The only player on this team that I'd take in 2008 to go down an alley with me is the young kid that's playing quarterback. He's the only one that wanted some yesterday. ... This starts with coach Tomlin. You no longer have a Hall of Fame quarterback. You no longer have better players than the other team. You have to have this team ready to play. I can't believe I'm saying this. I want this team to look like the Detroit Lions do most weeks. We say the Detroit Lions fought. They made it a game. They didn't give up.
"This [Steelers] team gave up. This team wasn't playing any more. It wasn't important enough to them to go out and have pride in the way they approached the game. That's a problem. When you know you don't have what it takes on paper, you've got to go out and do something else. That's what winners do. This team didn't play like winners."
So that's what it's come to for the Steelers.
They are being compared to the Detroit Lions.
What happened to the standard being the standard?
Clark is right. Tomlin has to take responsibility. The 38-3 loss to the Bills was the Steelers' fourth in a row. It wasn't just Tomlin's worst loss. It was the franchise's worst loss since 1989.
The Steelers just might be the worst team in the NFL.
ESPN's Football Power Index rates the Steelers as the likeliest team to obtain the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.
I've read that sentence 15 times and I still can't comprehend it.
Sure, the players deserve much blame.
The stars haven't been stars.
Najee Harris has rushed for 222 yards in five games and is averaging 3.2 yards per carry. That can't all be the offensive line's fault. Harris hasn't even been as good as undrafted free agent Jaylen Warren.
A few weeks ago, former Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley called the team's receivers "sloppy." Diontae Johnson was signed to big money, but he has been a disappointment, alternating fabulous catches with drops and a crippling failure to get two feet down inbounds. Chase Claypool has been an even bigger disappointment, a waste of immense talent. The two haven't done nearly enough to help Kenny Pickett and, before him, Mitch Trubisky. If their body language was an indicator, they never were happy when Trubisky was the quarterback.
The defense has been a disaster — to use one of Bleier's words from the past — since T.J. Watt was injured in the upset win at Cincinnati in the opening game. It has been equally bad at stopping the run and the pass. The Bills' Josh Allen threw for 424 yards and four touchdowns, including one for 98 yards to wide receiver Gabe Davis on the third play of the game. Talk about a disgrace.
Did the Steelers quit, as Clark suggested?
I'm not sure they ever showed up.
Kevin Colbert might have been the general manager when these Steelers were constructed, but Tomlin had a huge say in personnel matters. Why hasn't he been able to fix the offensive line after Maurkice Pouncey, Ramon Foster, David DeCastro and Al Villanueva all got old at the same time? Was it a mistake to take Harris in the first round in 2021 instead of an offensive lineman when running backs are so readily available, as proven by Warren? Did he overestimate what he was going to get from free agent Larry Ogunjobi and Tyson Alualu, 35, coming off ankle surgery? Did he really expect Devin Bush to be significantly better after a horrible season last year?
All of these problems can't be attributed to Watt's absence, can they?
And what about Tomlin's coaches? He has had eight offensive line coaches in his 16 seasons here with only Mike Munchak being an undisputed success. Adrian Klemm took over last year and didn't even bother finishing the season.
Then there's Matt Canada. He was an odd choice as offensive coordinator last season because he hadn't coached in the NFL. It seemed even stranger that Tomlin brought him back this season after the offense was so bad last season.
This point can't be argued:
Tomlin's recent track record has been — to use his words — below the line. The Steelers have won just three playoff games since 2010, none since 2016. They have given up 42, 48, 45 and 36 points in their past four playoff games, all losses.
Tomlin is fortunate he works for the Rooney family, which long has believed in stability and continuity with its coaches. Many other organizations would have replaced him a long time ago.
Things aren't likely to get better for Tomlin any time soon. He promised to "turn over every stone" after the loss in Buffalo to find answers, but I'm not sure there's much he can do at the moment. His team is his team.
Is that a troubling thought or what?
One thing that's also inarguable about Tomlin is that he's never lost his locker room. It didn't happen in 2009, when the Steelers lost five games in a row late before winning their final three to finish 8-8. It didn't happen in 2013, when they started 0-4 before finishing 8-8. It didn't happen in 2016, when they lost four in a row before making it to the AFC championship game. It didn't even happen in 2019, when Ben Roethlisberger went out at halftime of the second game and the Steelers had Mason Rudolph or Duck Hodges as their quarterback and finished 8-8.
But now?
An angry, frustrated Tomlin promised better days ahead in the wake of the Buffalo loss.
That's not saying much, right?
Things can't be worse.
If the Steelers just bother to show up to play Tom Brady and Tampa Bay Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, it will be a big improvement.
