The Pittsburgh Steelers’ frustrating loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday has put the 2025 season in serious jeopardy. Falling to 6–5 and slipping out of the playoff picture, they now find themselves on the outside looking in, while the Ravens have surged with five straight wins and sit atop the AFC North.
Sunday’s game was another maddening performance defined by the same inconsistencies that have plagued this team all season. and frankly, for years. In a year where the Ravens once sat at 1–5, and the Bengals looked finished, in an AFC that feels wide open, this Steelers team continues to crumble in the biggest moments.
They don’t resemble a complete football team, and when faced with adversity, they don’t smile in the face of it. They run from it. That reality stands in sharp contrast to the empty messaging Mike Tomlin continues to deliver.
This isn’t just a 2025 problem. This has been years in the making. There are no more excuses. The Steelers did everything they believed they needed to do to change the narrative, and none of it has worked, and it won’t work. The issues are deeper than the roster. The scheme is broken. The philosophy is broken. The process is broken.
We’ve seen this movie over and over again, but this time it’s worse. Every Steelers fan knows how this ends. The only real question left is: when will this finally be enough for Art Rooney II?
The Pittsburgh Steelers are damaged beyond repair with Mike Tomlin
After ending last season on a five-game losing streak and getting blown out in the wild-card round by the Ravens, changes were expected. Yet almost the entire group of assistants returned, leaving the same team with the same problems. Once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern. This has now been an almost decade-long pattern.
This offseason, significant moves were made, and additional resources were poured into the defense. The team appeared poised to become legitimate contenders. For ownership, desperate for playoff success, this should have been the season to prove it.
Fast forward to now. The offense has improved slightly but remains inconsistent. The team still leans on a run-first approach, but it can’t execute consistently, while the passing game remains a question mark, continuing the quarterback carousel yet again.
Meanwhile, the highest-paid defense, meant to be a strength, has been a statistical disappointment, ranking among the worst in franchise history, and it is aging fast. One side of the ball performs while the other struggles. There is no balance, no identity.
The offseason plan has failed to produce results. Now, in Week 13 with the Buffalo Bills coming to town, the Steelers face a critical stretch without clarity on which team will show up. Many can say fans are overreacting, and there’s a lot of season left, but we’ve been proven what this team is and what’s to come.
History suggests they will either barely sneak into the playoffs or just miss—and if they do make it, another blowout loss is likely. Nine years would have passed without a playoff win, and the same patterns persist.
Ownership gave this coaching staff the players and resources it asked for. The results have not followed. Offensive issues linger, and the defense has declined. The once-proud Steelers standard of championship football has been reduced to simply finishing above average. Leadership has failed to adapt to the modern NFL, and Mike Tomlin has struggled to win big games, develop talent, hire a competent coaching staff, or create balanced, efficient offenses and defenses.
The question must be asked: what purpose does Mike Tomlin hold anymore? The Steelers are broken, and this season proves that even with the players and resources he requested, he still can’t get it done. How long will ownership keep convincing itself it will fix itself?
Almost a decade hasn’t been enough. With no franchise quarterback, how can anyone have faith that this team can be turned around when time and again, Tomlin has failed. They’ve had talented teams—and still couldn’t get the job done. What will it take, another few years of the same struggles, or will ownership finally rip the band-aid off and admit this approach simply isn’t working?