There is a universal reaction to the Pittsburgh Steelers Thursday night loss to the New England Patriots. Disgust. In Mike Tomlin, in Mitch Trubisky, in the team. And no one is wearing his emotions more on his sleeve than analyst Adam Schein.
Backing the Steelers for large parts of the season, Schein is changing his tune following losses to the Arizona Cardinals and Patriots over a four-day span. Two teams who came into Pittsburgh with a combined record of 4-20. Each flew out of town with a win.
“I’m out on this team,” Schein began. “I’m done with this team. I hate this team. The Steelers fans, Steeler Nation, the amazing fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers deserve so much more and so much better.”
Even less than 48 hours after the loss, there isn’t much else to discuss. Pittsburgh lost to back-to-back 2-10 teams and dropped from 7-4 to 7-6 in less than a week. In both games, Pittsburgh was out-schemed and out-executed by opponents who had done little of that prior to coming to Acrisure.
In typical Steelers’ fashion, they lost to an opponent they were clearly favored to beat. Over the last seven games in which Mike Tomlin’s team has been favored by 5.5 or more points, Pittsburgh is 1-5-1, including these last two losses. Their only win over that span was a 2021 nail-biter to the Chicago Bears, a 29-27 victory.
For Pittsburgh, their close-winning ways have caught up to them. About half of NFL games end in one-possession outcomes, but that’s where the Steelers live. All seven of their wins this year have come in that fashion, while nine of their 13 games have been decided by this type of margin.
While the Steelers have a host of execution issues, the buck stops with Tomlin. In his commentary, Schein zeroed in on him.
“Mike Tomlin has done a wretched job. How do you bring back Matt Canula in the first place? How do you set back the offense? You had George Pickens just running around last night. He had five catches for 19 yards.”
Pickens’ 19 yards were the fewest by a Steelers’ wide receiver in team history who caught at least five passes. And shedding Canada clearly wasn’t the cure-all. Pittsburgh’s offense is still unable to score. They’ve gone four straight games under 20 points. If they make it five, it’ll be a Steelers’ first since the Nixon Administration. Assuming Tomlin makes it to 2024,
Tomlin will try to somehow float this sinking ship Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts, who look like a true Wild Card team despite their own share of injuries under first-year head coach Shane Steichen.
