With half the season gone, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ biggest disappointment has undeniably been their defense. That unit was getting a lot of hype before the season began. However, it’s fallen well short of those expectations. That group has been downright awful at times. That includes its recent performance against the Green Bay Packers. The Steelers allowed 454 total yards of offense, getting carved up by quarterback Jordan Love. Analyst Nick Wright ripped the Steelers’ defensive performance.
“When Mike Tomlin’s your head coach, in theory, you shouldn’t need the highest-paid defense in the history of pro football to have a really good defense,” Wright said Monday on FS1’s First Things First. “They gave that to him anyway. And I like Tomlin a lot.
“I think Tomlin is a great coach holistically. But for the defense to be this bad with that many star players on it and a defensive-minded coach is unforgivable. That can’t happen.”
Wright isn’t wrong. The Steelers’ defense has the talent to be one of the league’s best. T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, and Jalen Ramsey will all make cases for the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day. Darius Slay is a proven veteran. Others, like Alex Highsmith, Patrick Queen, and DeShon Elliott, have been solid starters, too.
Also, Tomlin’s background is in defense. He started in the NFL as the defensive backs coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There, he coached several Hall of Fame players, such as Ronde Barber and John Lynch. Then, he was the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. While he’s not the Steelers’ defensive coordinator, his fingerprints are all over that unit.
Therefore, he deserves some of the blame for his defense’s failures. The Steelers don’t lack skill on defense, but miscommunication has been one of their biggest issues. There are multiple examples of the Steelers’ defense blowing coverages. They even had only 10 players on the field for the Packers’ two-point conversion play.
That problem goes back to last year, too. Steelers coaches deserve some of the blame for that. They don’t have that group properly prepared. Going into this week, the Steelers had the 28th-ranked defense in the league. After the Packers game, they’ll likely only go lower. That shouldn’t be the case, but it is. The Steelers’ defense has significant problems, and it’s unclear if it can turn things around.
