The Pittsburgh Steelers have no shortage of problems entering the final stretch of the season. After a painful loss to the Bears in Week 12, it wasn't hard to notice glaring issues at the quarterback position, the wide receiver position, and in the secondary. But the massive Mike Tomlin philosophy problem trumps them all.
The Steelers once again demonstrated an inability to move the football through the air consistently on offense. While it's easy to point the finger at backup quarterback Mason Rudolph—who was asked to be a stop-gap starter when Aaron Rodgers couldn't go—the issues run much deeper than one signal caller.
The biggest problem: the Steelers refuse to throw the ball over the middle of the field.
Entering Week 12, Rodgers ranked 33rd in the NFL in intended air yards per pass attempt (5.9), 35th in completed air yards per completion (3.6), and 35th in completed air yards per pass (2.4), per advanced stats from Pro Football Reference. Many fans thought this may have been a Rodgers problem. After all, the aging QB is nearly 42 years old and routinely gets rid of the ball quickly to avoid getting hit. However, this issue doesn't begin and end with Rodgers.
In Week 12 against the Bears, Rudolph had an intended air yards per pass of 5.0, completed air yards per completion of just 1.5, and completed air yards per pass attempt of merely 1.1. This is because Tomlin has hardwired the Steelers to avoid risks on offense... and it's killing this team.
Mike Tomlin needs to adjust his philosophy, or the Pittsburgh Steelers must move on
The Pittsburgh Steelers are playing 'Mike Tomlin football'. Their mission is as clear as day: to take the football away and avoid giving the football away. The former has resulted in wildly inconsistent defensive performances, and the latter routinely caps the upside of the offense.
By limiting risks, Arthur Smith's passing concepts include a flood of screen passes, patterns to the flats, and speed outs. When the Steelers do take shots down the field, it's typically to the sidelines. The problem with this is that most of these patterns offer low upside. Pittsburgh rarely has designed deep posts and slants over the middle of the field. This stems from Tomlin's philosophy of not putting the ball in harm's way.
Unfortunately, the lack of aggressiveness in the passing game greatly limits the upside of the offense... and opposing teams know it.
Instead of looking to exploit linebackers and safeties in coverage over the middle of the field, Tomlin is content trying to methodically nickel and dime his way past the sticks for long, sustained drives to keep the ball out of the hands of the opposing offense.
READ MORE: Steelers Week 12 collapse leaves fans questioning everything about this team
This dated philosophy allows the opposing defense to play up on Pittsburgh's receivers—knowing that there's hardly a chance of the Steelers' offense targeting the middle of the field. And this isn't just a one-off game we saw with Mason Rudolph at quarterback; it's a Tomlin philosophy that's been prevalent since the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger.
While offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is clearly a better offensive play-caller than Matt Canada before him, they both lacked aggressiveness. And I don't think it's a coincidence that these run-heavy coordinators were hand-selected by Coach Tomlin.
At this point, there are only two options. Either Mike Tomlin bucks his dated offensive philosophy and allows Smith and Rodgers to dial up aggressive pass concepts over the middle of the field, or the Pittsburgh Steelers finally turn the page on Tomlin. That's where we are right now.