Leading up to Week 12, Mike Tomlin was a favorite to win NFL Coach of the Year. That might not be true after the Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Cleveland Browns, 24-19. The Steelers did not play their best game in all aspects. Tomlin was in poor form too, struggling to use timeouts and making an odd decision to accept a penalty late in the game. Analyst Colin Cowherd believes this game is an example of Tomlin’s flaws.
“Tomlin has always been known as more motivator than innovator,” Cowherd said Friday on FS1’s The Herd. “That’s always been his thing. This team, in Tomlin’s era, [has] always had a very, very high floor, but a lower ceiling. They lost to the Cowboys this year. And yet, they beat the Ravens. And yet, they lose to the Browns. This is what drives Pittsburgh Steelers fans crazy.”
Indeed, going into Thursday night, the Steelers looked like a powerhouse. They even had a chance to capture the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs. That still isn’t out of the realm of possibility, but it seems much more unlikely now. This loss was totally avoidable.
Despite their slow start, the Steelers could’ve beaten the Browns. They had chances, especially with how they won the turnover battle. Their defense had lapses, but it made enough splash plays to help out the offense. The Steelers just couldn’t get out of their own way.
Tomlin deserves much of the blame for that too. His continuing to be aggressive on fourth down ended up hurting the Steelers. He allowed precious time to tick off the clock at the end of the first half when he could’ve used a timeout. His issues with timeouts continued in the second half, Tomlin burning one late when the team was completely lost following a penalty.
That penalty in particular seemed like Tomlin’s worst decision of the day. The Browns were in a third and two and the had Steelers stopped them. However, the Browns were called for illegal touching. Tomlin seemed uncertain what the penalty was at first, and he declined it. However, after receiving clarity, he accepted the penalty.
That decision felt bizarre. Yes, it backed the Browns up but only five yards. It allowed them to repeat third down. The Steelers could’ve forced the Browns to make a hard decision on fourth and short. Instead, the Browns easily converted on third down on the way to scoring the game-winning touchdown.
It was a mess from start to finish. On a short week on the road against a divisional opponent, Tomlin put up arguably his worst showing of the year. He has overall been excellent this year, so he should have the Steelers back on track next week. Hopefully he learns from his mistakes against the Browns.
