Well, it's all over but the shouting for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Thanks to a rather inglorious showing on the road against our arch-rival, the Baltimore Ravens, we are once again 'one and done' in the playoffs. Don't get me wrong, I didn't even think we would make the playoffs this year.
Despite losing our last four games of the regular season, we still made the playoffs. We drew the Ravens, an opponent against whom I thought we matched up pretty well. I was wrong. We were simply no match for them.
Let's see what we learned on the offensive side of the ball.
Steelers' offense played at a Junior Varsity level
To use a Mike Tonmlin metaphor, the Steelers' offense played at a 'JV" level and it showed. We were blanked in the first half and, frankly, the game was over at that point. I knew that Arthur Smith would not be able to 'dial up' anything creative to get the offense going in the second half. We simply don't have that 'one-play' touchdown in our repertoire.
The statistic that stood out to me was this: the Steelers had the same number of drives as the Ravens but ran twenty-seven fewer plays than Baltimore. We just could not get into any kind of rhythm and it showed. The offense was downright ineffective.
We also could not run the ball, which was a little surprising given the fact that the Steelers finished the 2024 regular season ranked eleventh in rushing yards per game. Another statistic that told the tale of that game was time of possession. We had the ball for only a shade over twenty minutes.
Let's see what we learned on the defensive side of the ball.
Pittsburgh's run defense was porous (and the difference in the game)
Make no mistake, the inability of Teryl Austin to corral either Lamar Jackson or Derrick Henry, who had an astonishing one-hundred and eighty-six yards rushing, tells you all you need to know about how that game unfolded.
I realize Austin is not out there on the field but if he is responsible for putting the game plan together and is responsible, for the most part, for calling the plays, how does allow Henry, Jackson, and the rest of the Ravens to rush for two-hundred and ninety-nine yards?
Think about that for a minute. You know that your opponent wants to establish the run game and yet you have no answer for it and you seemingly don't make the necessary adjustments to stop it. That speaks volumes about the coaching and the personnel we have on the defensive side of the ball.
Let's see what else we learned.
The 'Steelers way' is getting in the way of progress
As I stated at the outset, I was shocked we made the playoffs this year. When my son and I did our annual schedule prediction, we both predicted that we would suffer our first losing season since Mike Tomlin has been our head coach.
I have repeatedly stated that I am a Mike Tomlin supporter, but I am not a Mike Tomlin apologist. Something has to give here. We looked ill-prepared, befuddled, and simply outmatched. That falls squarely on the shoulders of Tomlin, Smith, Austin, and the rest of the coaching staff.
What changes, if any, will be made? Will Art Rooney II step in and force change?
I am not at the point where I believe we need to get rid of Tomlin, but I know some fans are at that point (and justifiably so). We haven't won a playoff game in nearly a decade. That's not the Steelers way that I grew up with.
The Steelers way that I grew up with was a culture of winning, particularly winning once the playoffs rolled around. While we didn't make the playoffs every year under Chuck Noll, which is the era I grew up in, by the way, we generally got past at least the Wild Card round.
The same can be said for the Bill Cowher era. We made the playoffs for six straight years. To be fair, we didn't win a Super Bowl until 2005, but we at least had a chance almost every year. Under Tomlin, we have missed the playoffs six years since 2007, which is not bad, if you ask me.
What is bad, if you ask me, is how we have played in several playoff games, which manifested itself in the tragedy we witnessed against the Ravens. As I stated, we looked ill-prepared and outcoached. I can't help but think that Tomlin knows changes must be made to remedy the current situation in which we find ourselves.
READ MORE: Steelers locker room reportedly had a 'sense of relief' that the season is over
To be clear, the current situation in which we find ourselves is nothing short of a monumental conundrum. The Steelers are always competitive in the regular season but wither down the stretch and fall off the vine, so to speak, in the playoffs.
Is it better to always win the 'small games' but not win the 'big game' or it is better to retool and rebuild the roster into a team that can get to the 'big game' and win it? The 2024 roster was simply not good enough to make any noise in the playoffs. The winds of change should be blowing right about now.