After a second-straight loss due to repeated issues, Mike Tomlin is under the microscope. At least from the outside. With a defense looking historic in the wrong direction and the Pittsburgh Steelers risking a three-game losing streak, former NFL GM and ex-Steelers front office member Doug Whaley thinks Tomlin’s message is getting stale.
During WPXI’s Black & Gold Zone post-game show, Whaley didn’t hold back.
“Teams takes the characteristics of their head coaches, and if you listen to Tomlin, he’s a great orator, he’s got great one liners,” Whaley said alongside co-host Jenna Harner. “When you look at this team on paper you have a Hall of Famer [at] quarterback. You have two Hall of Famers on the defensive line, a possible Hall of Famer in [Jalen] Ramsey. You’ve got some young talent. But guess what they don’t have? Substance. Just like Mike Tomlin’s press conferences.
“When you start thinking about it that way and you start hearing buy-in? My question is: are those guys in the locker room buying into what the coaching staff is putting out there and trying to have them pick up.”
After the Steelers’ 35-25 loss to the Green Bay Packers, Tomlin acknowledged the issues have become “repetitive.” Pittsburgh’s defense had no answer for Green Bay Packers QB Jordan Love or TE Tucker Kraft, two men who diced up the Steelers’ high-paid and high-pedigreed defense. Love finished the day with only eight incompletions, some of which were drops, for 360 yards and three touchdowns. He was not sacked, nor did he turn the ball over. Kraft was often on the other end of seven of Love’s throws, posting 143 yards and two touchdowns.
One the heels of an equally poor performance against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Steelers’ problems are becoming trends.
“They’re talking about the same issues over and over,” Whaley said. “It’s that clip from Brian Kelly, who just got fired. ‘We’re up here talking about the same things over and over.’ After awhile there’s a saying: You’re either coaching it or allowing it. And they have to be doing both because nothing has changed.”
A high-profile college football coach at LSU, Kelly was fired by the Tigers today after a blowout loss to Texas A&M Saturday. Pittsburgh won’t make such a decision with Tomlin midseason, but pundits like Whaley will provide the external heat until the Steelers turn around. If it turns around.
Whaley cited a lack of “discipline” as a troubling defensive theme, especially in the second half. Pittsburgh allowed 28 second-half points, blowing a fourth quarter lead that bordered on historic.
“If they don’t get that turned around real quick, it’s going to be a long season but an even longer offseason where everybody has to start looking in the mirror,” he said.
For now, Pittsburgh will look to avoid turning a two-game skid into a three-game free fall. That won’t come easy against the 7-1 Indianapolis Colts, who feature the NFL’s most potent offense and a top-10 defense. A win could turn the tide on Whaley’s sentiment. A loss will only swell it.
