4 reasons Steelers would have been embarrassed in the NFL playoffs

1. Steelers philosophy of winning is outdated

Perhaps the most concerning thing about the Pittsburgh Steelers right now is that their philosophy for winning a championship is incredibly outdated. Both head coach, Mike Tomlin, and team president, Art Rooney II, have made it very clear that their plan is to run the ball well and play great defense.

There’s a problem with this approach: you can’t stick to this game plan when you are trailing against good teams. While the rushing attack is great for eating up time of possession and moving the ball between the twenties, a good running game doesn’t typically equate to points scored. Instead, Pittsburgh needs to improve their passing efficiency — particularly in the red zone — if they want to have a more threatening offense.

In the same way, it’s easy to say that your team is going to play good defense, but consistency on defense from game to game against the best teams in the league isn’t sustainable, as good quarterbacks and game plans can exploit even the best defenses in the league with today’s rules.

Because of this, Matt Canada needs to have plays designed to help his team come back in football games as their typical game plan must be scrapped if they dig themselves a hole. Sadly, this team simply doesn’t have the firepower right now to pull this off.

Even with the much-improved run game in the second half of the year, Tomlin couldn’t have expected to run the ball 40 times per game in the playoffs and play excellent defense. This philosophy works well against average opponents, but not against the best the league has to offer.