There’s been a lot more bad than good surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers in recent weeks. The team’s current three-game losing streak has called into questions about Pittsburgh’s locker room and whether players are responding to head coach Mike Tomlin. That’s even more the case after wide receiver George Pickens’ lack of effort during the team’s loss against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 15. During an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, former Steelers running back Jerome Bettis said that Tomlin can’t be buddy-buddy with the players, which necessitates the need for the team to have a leader on offense.
“It’s a fine line. The head coach, it’s hard for him to be the buddy too. So he’s gotta be the heavy, in this particular role,” Bettis told Patrick. “You need someone internally, in that locker room that can pull [Pickens] aside and say, ‘Listen man, I’m in the same boat that you’re in. I’m with you.’ So the head coach can’t necessarily play that role. That’s why you need that strong leader offensively that can pull him aside and say, ‘Look man, we’re all getting hammered here.'”
Bettis said if a team doesn’t have that guy who can essentially say we’re all in this together, with the key word being “we,” to lead the offense, that’s when a team can fall apart.
Tomlin has to lead and can’t put himself in the same shoes as his players. Jeff Saturday said yesterday that the head coach can’t be responsible for the locker room’s culture and that the coach creates a standard while the players enforce it. Pittsburgh needs someone to step up on offense and take that role.
The whole offense has struggled. Lately, the brunt of the blame has fallen on Pickens for his lack of effort, and that’s a real problem. But no one on the offense should be excused for the team’s struggles, as the whole group has struggled, and that’s been the case pretty much all year. With Kenny Pickett out with an injury, he can still be involved with the team and has been in meetings, but it’s hard for him to take a leadership role at the moment when he’s not on the field through the current struggles.
That means the onus falls elsewhere on the young offense for someone to take charge and become the leader the unit seems to be lacking. Players have to enforce the standard that Tomlin sets and build the culture through the locker room. If that isn’t happening, the question becomes whether Tomlin’s words are falling on deaf ears or if it’s just a locker room that needs to add more guys who are capable of leading.
For what it’s worth, both Diontae Johnson and Allen Robinson II have said they’ve worked with Pickens in particular about his frustrations, and there needs to be more of that. The offense needs to band together, and guys need to start taking on a bigger role to tell their teammates their actions are unacceptable if they aren’t giving 100%.
It might be too late, with the Steelers needing to win out to have a shot at the playoffs, but it’s a culture that needs to be established. The best thing for Pittsburgh getting on the right track on the field and in the locker room will be winning against the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday. We’ll see if they can make that happen.
Watch the full interview with Bettis below:
