The good, the bad, and the ugly of Steelers historically awful loss to Patriots

The Ugly: The Steelers Entire Coaching Staff is Failing this Roster

There is a larger discussion here that will no doubt be covered by my colleagues here and on other platforms. While I won't advocate for Mike Tomlin's firing personally, something has to give. Losing back-to-back games to 10-loss teams as a +.500 team was literally unheard of in the NFL before tonight.

Tomlin's teams have always played closer to the level of competition than setting any sort of standard of their own. Tomlin's offense without Ben Roethlisberger under center has proven to be a conservative operation that lives in its fears. There is little hell being unleashed by the defense, in December or otherwise.

Tomlinisms can't save this team. Acknowledging that this team plays an aptly described "JV" brand of football is not enough to create positive change. And though the sample size is small, and he absolutely deserved to be fired for the irreparable damage he committed against this offense, firing Matt Canada didn't solve every problem with this offense.

There is something to be said about the positions this team has experienced injuries, and how untimely they've been, though there never is a good time to lose impact players. But the way Tomlin speaks would leave the gullible to believe that anyone wearing Black and Gold is capable of playing up to some unbreakable standard. As good as it sounds behind a press conference mic, it's painfully far from the truth.

On the other side of that, TJ Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick and most notably Cam Heyward are not getting younger. The younger skill players on offense have visibly shown their frustrations with the construction of the offense and its infuriating ineptitude.

It's laughable that five days ago, the Steelers were in the driver's seat to not just secure a playoff spot, but maybe win the division, and now the franchise is in the darkest place it's been since the 1980s while still holding a winning record. That is a coaching issue. That is a Mike Tomlin issue. And the time to fix it has long since passed.