The Pittsburgh Steelers' defense hasn’t been good enough this season. Only the five turnovers that were forced against the New England Patriots allowed Pittsburgh a chance of leaving Foxborough with a victory last week.
But this is the same type of defensive performance Steelers fans have endured for far too long. And no, it hasn’t just been since Week 15 of the 2024 season.
For years under head coach Mike Tomlin and defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, the Steelers have leaned on a bend-but-don’t-break style of defense that relies on creating turnovers and splash plays to make their mark as a top defense. It’s hardly worked out in Pittsburgh’s favor when it matters most.
Mike Tomlin’s bend-but-don’t-break defense has reached its breaking point for the Pittsburgh Steelers
Here’s a crushing stat: Pittsburgh is +36 in turnovers over the past three seasons. The next closest team is Buffalo at +29 and Baltimore at +22. One of these things is not like the others.
Buffalo and Baltimore have enjoyed some level of postseason success; meanwhile, Pittsburgh is mired in its own mediocrity.
Of course, the allure of Aaron Rodgers joining the Steelers this season is that he doesn’t turn the ball over very much. In the past, Pittsburgh’s offense turned the ball over too often to capitalize on the defensive takeaways, or the ensuing drives didn’t go anywhere. The Rodgers impact does help, but Pittsburgh did only score off of two of the turnovers last week, and Rodgers has thrown three interceptions in three weeks.
There’s no denying the benefit of redzone takeaways either. Those are scoreboard swings themselves. If New England hadn't turned it over on the two-yard line twice last Sunday, the Steelers would be 1-2.
But that’s where the great teams join the conversation and prove why this maddening method by Tomlin doesn’t work out. Three of the undefeated teams remaining in the league, the Bills, Buccaneers, and Colts, have yet to turn the ball over. Let’s not include the Colts in the “great” conversation yet, but instead use Buffalo as a point of reference as the type of team Pittsburgh is trying to compete with.
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Pittsburgh plays Buffalo later this season, so we could very well see this scenario play out. What happens when a bend-but-don’t-break defense faces Josh Allen and the Bills don't turn the ball over? The 2023 Wild Card loss to Buffalo holds the answer. Allen and the Bills racked up 368 yards of offense and 31 points.
It’s not too different from what happened down the stretch last year against the gauntlet of Super Bowl contenders Pittsburgh faced. The Steelers created five turnovers in five games while allowing anywhere between 314 yards and 464 yards of total offense, losing each game by multiple scores except the season finale against Cincinnati.
Pittsburgh is never going to get over the hump playing defense with this mentality. There’s something to be said about conservative mindsets on defense, because they do work. Not every team needs to blitz like Brian Flores, and not every scheme needs to be as complex as Bill Belichick’s. But predictability and little nuance don’t go very far in the NFL.
The Steelers have to quit treating their defense like this is a game of Madden, where the defense has a bunch of 90+ overall players who are always in position to make the play, even if they line up in the same spots each and every down. Simply having the best players doesn’t accomplish much in the real world; they still have to be put in a position to succeed.
And conservative defense can do that. You can roll and disguise coverages. You can limit your stunts and blitzes to key moments. You can come out in a crazy formation and run a standard shell coverage behind it. Such calls can lead to turnovers and get the defense off the field on third downs.
Instead, Pittsburgh does few of these things, and often when they do, it doesn’t seem to pay off. Those simple coverages get gashed on third and longs, the defense stays on the field, and continues to bend.