The Pittsburgh Steelers’ well-compensated defense is coming apart at the seams. Certainly, that is the case on the field, but it is happening in the locker room as well? Their recent issues have been glaring, leaving receivers open in the end zone. But in the past couple weeks, players have been making comments about how they’re not together. There is a tremendous amount of frustration—but is that healthy or hurtful?
Former NFL WR Chad Johnson doesn’t think so, because of Mike Tomlin. If there is anything brewing under the surface, the Steelers head coach will take care of it. “Mike gonna nip that in the bud. Mike gonna play that down”, he said on the Nightcap podcast with Shannon Sharpe.
“Now, there are very few times where you have players, especially on a Mike Tomlin team, that come out and voice their frustration when things aren’t going the way they should”, he added of Steelers teams of the past. “Mike can go talk to those players. I don’t think there’s any drama”.
It was just last December when the Steelers had Minkah Fitzpatrick speaking out about their defensive issues. This year, things are even worse, thanks to this recent three-game losing streak in blowout fashion. Players new to the team like DeShon Elliott and Patrick Queen have lit up their recent play. So what is Mike Tomlin to do?
While Johnson believes Tomlin can get the Steelers locker room calmed down, he also thinks some of the things coming out of it should not be said. Particularly, he thinks players should have refrained from references of players not doing their jobs.
“That shouldn’t even be talked about at all. At all. Because when you turn on the film, it’s gonna show. The eye in the sky don’t lie”, he said. “There’s no need to talk about anybody else. Just make sure you do your job. And when everybody’s on one accord, one band, one sound, the wins will come”.
He suggested the Steelers are frustrated because they are not used to losing. At least, they hadn’t been much this year, going 10-3 before their recent skid. It’s not so long ago that Mike Tomlin was a favorite for the Coach of the Year, after all.
But what comes next? We obviously don’t know if Tomlin has a problem in his locker room. The Steelers’ defensive players absolutely should be frustrated. But Tomlin is not the type of coach to call players out in public, at least for football reasons. How does he feel about players talking about others not doing their jobs?
The Steelers have one game left to play, but Tomlin’s team isn’t likely to win the division. They need the Ravens to lose to the Browns, and they need to beat the Bengals. They have a playoff game coming either way. But right now, this doesn’t look like a team that is about to win a game. The Steelers are not playing as a team, in fact, and that is the problem. So how does Mike Tomlin temper frustrations and get everybody back on the same page?
