In the end, it may not have mattered. It probably wouldn’t have mattered. But as part of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ messy and questionable display in Saturday’s 30-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, Mike Tomlin’s decision-making was poor.
His explanation was no better.
Speaking with reporters after the game, Tomlin was asked why he punted from the Colts’ 39-yard line down 24-13 with 3:21 left in the third quarter instead of opting for a Chris Boswell 56-yard field goal attempt.
“Not a lot had gone in our way at that juncture that made me feel good about banging a 57-yard field goal,” Tomlin said via the team’s website. “Particularly on the down before I thought we might take a shot or check it down and we ended up throwing the ball out of bounds. And so I didn’t like that field positioning.”
The decision, like most everything else in Indy, failed. Punter Pressley Harvin III’s boot travelled only 22 yards and was fair caught at the Colts’ 17-yard line, technically inside the 20 but hardly backing Indianapolis up. The Colts needed just two plays to get to where the Steelers finished their drive. And they ran the ball on 13 straight plays, carving up and wearing down Pittsburgh’s front seven while chewing nearly nine minutes off the clock and kicking a field goal to make it a two-possession game.
Pittsburgh initially found itself facing 3rd and 4 from the Colts’ 29. A holding call on LT Dan Moore Jr. made it 3rd and 14 and QB Mitch Trubisky fired wildly out of bounds while looking for a well-covered George Pickens down the left sideline, setting up fourth and long.
Converting a field goal would’ve at least made it a one-score game, 24-16. Boswell missed an extra point earlier in the game, his first such miss in two years, but he easily has the leg strength to convert from that far out. He’s become one of the NFL’s best long-range kickers and the best from 50-plus yards in Steelers’ history. On the season, he’s 5-of-6 from that distance, his only miss coming from 61 yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier in the season. Being inside the Colts’ closed-roof stadium made weather a non-factor for a mid-December game.
There was risk in kicking the field goal. But punting was tantamount to waving a white flag. Perhaps the Steelers’ defensive players felt it as they were rolled for the next 13 plays, the Colts winning off the line and dominating up front. By the time Pittsburgh got the ball back, it trailed 27-13 with 9:17 left. Trubisky threw a terrible interception, his final pass of the day (and maybe of his Steelers’ career?) and the Colts took another four minutes off the clock, though their drive ended without points.
The Steelers ended the day with 13 points. They’re averaging just 15.9 on the year, a number that if it holds will be their worst since 1970. Today’s loss was rock bottom. Offense, defense, large parts of special teams, and Tomlin’s decision-making doomed the Steelers in a must-win moment.
