The Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss to the Baltimore Ravens marked the team’s fifth straight one-and-done playoff appearance. For a team that prides itself on defense, Colin Cowherd believes the Steelers are well behind the curve when it comes to the offensive side of the ball. On FS1’s The Herd today, Cowherd ripped Pittsburgh’s offense and said Mike Tomlin doesn’t have any feel for that side of the ball.
“The NFL has pivoted to offense, and the Steelers offense has pivoted to pitiful,” Cowherd said. “I think Mike Tomlin’s a good guy, I think he’s a good coach, but he has no feel for offense, and that’s where the AFC has really gone.”
If the Steelers want to figure out how to improve offensively, Cowherd believes they need to go outside the building for a quarterback.
“The answer for this offense is not in the building. Old Russ, young Justin Fields. That’s not the answer.”
With eight straight seasons without a playoff victory, he thinks the Steelers should move on from Tomlin and said the organization as a whole doesn’t understand offense.
“To not compete against Baltimore, it’s time…this is not an indictment of Mike [Tomlin], but it’s an indictment for a franchise. They have no feel for offense.”
While Tomlin isn’t likely to go anywhere, there could be other staff changes. Although on the offensive side of the ball, the most likely change would be replacing offensive line coach Pat Meyer. Pittsburgh seemed to have figured out its offense earlier this season, with Russell Wilson’s deep ball working and the ground game finding success. But it completely wilted down the stretch, not scoring more than 17 points or holding a lead at any point over its five-game losing streak to end the season.
With quarterback play dominating the AFC, the Steelers just haven’t found a quarterback who can compete post-Ben Roethlisberger. Even with Roethlisberger, the Steelers didn’t have playoff success toward the end of his tenure, which Cowherd also pointed out, but it’s a position that’s getting more important with each passing year. The Steelers just haven’t found a solution.
Wilson was supposed to be the answer this year, but he reverted to the quarterback who struggled in Denver down the stretch for the majority of Pittsburgh’s late-season swoon. The Steelers now enter the offseason with both Wilson and Justin Fields set to be free agents this offseason and no clear answer in sight. It’s a weak quarterback draft and the Steelers don’t draft high enough to grab one of the top options. There also aren’t any really intriguing names who will be available in free agency.
They’re stuck in a rut, and while moving on from Tomlin could change the voice in the room, not having a legitimate quarterback solution is probably Pittsburgh’s biggest problem right now. This offseason will be telling to see what direction they go, whether they run it back with Wilson or Fields, or look to reset for the second offseason in a row. But there’s not a lot of positivity in Pittsburgh given their recent playoff futility and no answer at the sport’s most important position.
