The Pittsburgh Steelers were able to escape Week 4 with a 24-21 win over the Minnesota Vikings in Dublin, Ireland. However, this performance across the pond nearly turned into a disaster, and had we seen different results, everyone would be pointing the finger at Mike Tomlin.
The Steelers held a comfortable lead over the Vikings for almost the entire game. After being up 24-6 entering the fourth quarter, coach Tomlin took his foot off the gas and got conservative.
It began with a nine-play, 64-yard drive in the fourth. The Steelers had a fourth-and-goal scenario just three yards away from the end zone. Tomlin wanted to rush the field goal team onto the field, but after some pushback from Aaron Rodgers, the offense was allowed to stay. At this point, the Steelers led 24-14, and a touchdown would have made it a three-score game.
But even on fourth down, the Steelers found a way to get conservative. They attempted to run the ball in with Kenneth Gainwell and got stuffed just short of the goal line. This mistake was only half as bad as what would later come.
After the Vikings scored to cut the Steelers' lead to 24-21, Mike Tomlin had a chance to end the game on 4th and one. With a first down, Pittsburgh could have sat on the clock for the victory. However, instead of trusting the offense to pick up a yard, Tomlin elected to punt the ball back to the Vikings with 1:08 left, only needing a field goal to send the game into overtime.
Thankfully, Pittsburgh's defense was able to make a pivotal stand on the final six-play drive by Minnesota. But Tomlin gave Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell the perfect opportunity for his team to fight their way back into the game, and it should have never come down to this.
Pittsburgh Steelers fans should be furious with Mike Tomlin's decision-making
As a team, the Pittsburgh Steelers looked awesome in this contest. Watching the game, it felt like this team should have blown out the Vikings by three scores in Week 4. However, Tomlin's conservative game plan made this contest much closer than it needed to be.
In a game where quarterback Aaron Rodgers passed for 9.1 yards per attempt and the Steelers rushed for 131 yards on 4.5 yards per carry, Coach Tomlin showed an utter lack of trust in his offense.
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Instead of breaking free from old trends, Tomlin 'lived in his fears'. Ironically, this is what he routinely says the Steelers don't do. After these bizarre fourth-quarter decisions, fans instantly unleashed their thoughts on Tomlin on social media.
There's a reason the Pittsburgh Steelers can never seem to blow any team out: Mike Tomlin's decision-making doesn't allow them to. We can be thankful the Steelers beat the Vikings in Dublin and advanced to 3-1 on the season, but they nearly lost this game because of Tomlin's infuriating decisions down the stretch.