The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals last Sunday 16-10, but the score could have been more in Pittsburgh’s favor had it not been for a missed call by the officiating crew as QB Kenny Pickett completed a pass to WR Diontae Johnson in the end zone. Johnson appeared to get both feet down in-bounds, but the referees ruled the pass incomplete as Johnson lost the ball as he hit the turf out-of-bounds.
Watching the replay of the catch, many clamored for head coach Mike Tomlin to challenge the ruling of the play. Tomlin ended up not challenging the play, stating after the game that he had lost vision of the play and that the officials were definitive in their decision of a no-touchdown call on the field. Former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger spoke about the play on his podcast Footbahlin after the game, stating that he couldn’t believe that Tomlin didn’t challenge a play that would’ve resulted in Pittsburgh scoring another touchdown.
“But I think… Pittsburgh… why are we not challenging that?” Roethlisberger said on Footbahlin which aired on Channel Seven’s YouTube Channel. “Why is there not someone upstairs? I know Coach [Tomlin’s] press conference today, I didn’t see it all, but I’m sure he got asked that. I’m sure he said that it’s not his main focus. He saw it, didn’t think it was in, whatever, but you gotta have someone help him with that. I mean, I saw the replay in my living room.”
Tomlin did speak about opting not to challenge the ruling on the field of no touchdown by Johnson during his press conference on Tuesday. He stated that he doesn’t always get an opportunity to get a good look at potential scoring plays and that he tends to side with the officials on potential scoring plays if they don’t deem it worthy of ruling a touchdown and allowing it to go to automatic review afterward.
Tomlin also mentioned that there is someone who is responsible for helping him in those situations to determine whether or not to challenge the ruling of a play. Tomlin has had a history of not faring well when challenging plays, but that was a play that should have been challenged. Whoever was advising Tomlin in the booth would have had a better view of the play and should have helped Tomlin make the call that would’ve resulted in Pittsburgh getting seven points on the board rather than walking away with nothing. RB Jaylen Warren fumbled the football away the very next play.
For a coach who has said time and again that he doesn’t live in his fears, it’s kind of bizarre that Tomlin didn’t challenge the ruling on the play as Pittsburgh was on the Cincinnati 15-yard line with two yards left to go on second down. Should Pittsburgh win the challenge, they get the guaranteed seven points (pending a Chris Boswell extra point). If they don’t, then they would be faced with a 3rd-and-short situation, similar to what Pittsburgh had before losing the ball on the Warren fumble.
Warren fumbling the ball away the next play only adds insult to injury for Tomlin not to challenge the previous play, but it goes to show that nothing is guaranteed in the game of football and that you can’t bank on picking up the first down after passing on challenging a potential scoring play. Hindsight is 20/20 now after the fact, but all of us watching at home saw a touchdown catch by Johnson in the back of the end zone, and Tomlin’s eye in the sky must do a better job going forward of making that judgment call to encourage Tomlin to challenge the play and get another score on the board.
