The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in eight seasons, and after their recent playoff failure in a 28-14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin caught some heat from fans and analysts for his recent playoff struggles. But the Steelers are sticking with Tomlin, and Jim Rooney, the son of former Steelers owner Dan Rooney and brother of Art Rooney II, doesn’t believe the issues fall solely on Tomlin.
“I think it’s an organization issue, not just Mike. I think all of us are responsible for the outcomes, but I think we take responsibility. I don’t want to get into excuse making, but the reality is we outperform the NFL mean at a greater rate than just about any team for the last 25 years,” Rooney said on The Ross Tucker Football Podcast. “I think if this was a boxing match and you were judging the competition, not just looking at the winning percentage, you would say that we have performed in a harder circumstance than most and outperformed them.
“Having said that, I understand no one wants to lose playoff games. The goal is to win the Super Bowl, and you have to get to there. You have to get to playoff games, which we do well, and you have to win playoff games, which we haven’t.”
I think the message that Rooney is trying to send is that the Steelers have outperformed in the regular season, so they’re losing to better teams in the postseason. The whole boxing match analogy doesn’t make much sense, because it’s not a boxing match, it’s football, and that message doesn’t really apply when you look at some of the Steelers playoff losses. They lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2017 when they had a first-round bye. They lost to the Cleveland Browns, a team they beat handily with their starters in the regular season at home in 2020.
The Steelers have lost to teams they shouldn’t have, and just because they exceed the NFL mean by being consistent and making the playoffs doesn’t mean it’s an acceptable output. There’s been too much losing and not enough winning, and yes, that does fall on the entire organization and not just Tomlin, but there’s no good excuse that can be made for it. It doesn’t matter that the Steelers have been better than pundits predict and that they can win 10 games and make the playoffs if they can’t win in the playoffs.
Tomlin certainly deserves some blame for the struggles, and he’s gotten it. The organization as a whole deserves criticism too, as the Steelers’ failure to find a quarterback to succeed Ben Roethlisberger is one reason for their current struggles (although that also falls on Tomlin, as he has a hand in roster building), and in general, the Steelers haven’t lived up to their standard. Being better than the average NFL team in the regular season means nothing if the Steelers are continually falling short in the postseason, and that’s been the case lately.
