The Steelers just look 'out of sorts' in all three phases of the game
Admittedly, I had to wait several hours after the final whistle that mercifully ended the debacle we witnessed on Thursday night before engaging in this particular discussion. As I have stated several times over several of our discussions, I am a Mike Tomlin supporter, but I am not a Mike Tomlin apologist.
I honestly firmly believed that after the loss to the then two-win Cardinals, we would bounce back to convincingly defeat the Patriots at home on Thursday night. Why wouldn't we? We were wearing our Color Rush uniforms, we were playing in prime-time, which is generally great for us, and we were coming off an embarrassing loss to the Cardinals.
Alas, it was not meant to be. Instead, we lost to yet another two-win team at home. Oh and, by the way, the loss to the Patriots is compounded by the fact that it is a conference loss. Losing one game to a 'bad' team at home is a fluke. Losing back-to-back home games to 'bad' teams is inexcusable
There are no two ways about it. I suppose we could spin in such a manner that that losses are explainable, e.g., we were dealing with injuries to key players and that part is true, but we can't spin it any manner in which Tomlin and the coaching staff come out on the 'long' end of this.
We have been outplayed and outcoached in consecutive weeks. That's the truth. We still can't generate enough points on offense to close out a game, the defense is a shell of itself, and the punting has been suspect (we are ranked twenty-ninth in gross average yards per punt).
Look, I realize the season is not over, but do you honestly think that we are going to win three road games and the rematch against the Bengals? Given how we are playing right now, I don't see us winning another game, which would mean that Tomlin would have endured the first losing season since he's been the head coach. That would be a travesty.