After a 4-1 start and a commanding lead in the AFC North, the Pittsburgh Steelers had an opportunity Thursday night to crush the Cincinnati Bengals' chances of staying alive in the playoff race. A loss would leave their rivals at a woeful 2-5 record and three and a half games back of the division lead, essentially ending any real chance of mounting a challenge against Pittsburgh.
Instead, the Bengals tore through the league's highest-paid defense to the tune of 470 total yards in a 33-31 defeat of the Steelers. The win gives them a fighting chance at catching Pittsburgh in the standings, and they can thank new quarterback Joe Flacco for helping unlock a dormant offense missing star QB Joe Burrow.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin continued his long history of futility in Thursday night road games, but this one feels even worse thanks to his comments leading up to the game.
He went viral for calling out the Cleveland Browns for trading Flacco inside the division, even going as far as calling out their general manager, Andrew Berry, by name. While his opinion on the matter makes sense, it's hard not to view it as anything other than whining after losing to his old foe once again.
Mike Tomlin has egg on his face after his Pittsburgh Steelers lost to Joe Flacco-led Bengals
Based on how Flacco carved up his defense, Tomlin's thoughts on the trade clearly came not just out of surprise, but out of fear as well. Even if he is no longer an above-average starter, Flacco offers a much tougher challenge than what the Bengals were getting from the previous starter, Jake Browning.
Still, getting as worked up about a trade between two of his rivals as he did was a bad look. The Browns are going nowhere this season, and the 40-year-old passer had eight turnovers in four games before being benched for rookie Dillon Gabriel. Getting anything at all for a QB like Flacco is a win in my book, and I imagine most would agree.
It was also a no-brainer for Cincinnati, given Browning's disastrous three games as a starter. Is it a bit frustrating for division rivals to help each other in this way? Of course, but there was a much better way to handle it than how Tomlin did.
Win.
That's right; just win. The fact that beating a struggling 2-4 team with a past-his-prime QB was too much to ask is a way bigger disgrace than trading with your rival. By acting the way he did, just to lose the game, it highlighted that facing veteran QBs who aren't fazed by his blitz-happy defense is something he can't adjust to.
His vaunted defense had few answers all night, and it was clear that Flacco knew exactly how to attack them from start to finish. Maybe if coach Tomlin spent more time planning for Flacco instead of complaining about who he was traded to, the Steelers might be 5-1 right now. Instead, they gave hope to the Bengals when they could have put them away for good less than halfway through the season.