Steelers' Exasperated Fan Base Is Losing Patience After The Latest "Tomlin" Game

The Pittsburgh Steelers lost 24-10 to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 13 in a game that was not as close as the score would indicate. Pittsburgh was beaten badly in all three phases of the game. The Steelers were thoroughly outclassed in a classic bad-weather December game in Pittsburgh by a team that plays their home games in the Arizona desert in a dome. Adding insult to injury, it was the first road win for the Cardinals in over a year and lifted their win total to three wins versus 10 losses.

The result mortified Steeler Nation, but a large portion of fans and many in the local media are chalking it up to the annual Mike Tomlin game. It's a pseudonym for an inexplicably bad performance against a team the Steelers should beat. It is usually marked by starting slow and finishing slower. Tomlin’s supporters in the national media gloss over this phenomenon by excusing his supposed ability to do more with less.

It is beyond frustrating for fans to lose a game like this. On Monday, The PM Team w/Poni & Mueller allowed fans to vent for most of the show. Andrew Fillipponi, after one particularly vitriolic call from a listener who was outraged that expectations had fallen so badly that they accepted the “Tomlin” game as a normal part of the season, expanded the take for the caller after Mueller surmised, “Yeah, they suck.”

“A very bad team goes on the road and spanks the other team,” Fillipponi ranted. “They got humbled yesterday. You can’t go back like you can with most NFL games and say if one or two plays go the other way, we win. Not when you lose by two touchdowns and at the end of the game, you were really down three.”

Fillipponi points out it was a putrid performance against the Cardinals. A caller may have pointed out that it was a "Tomlin" game, but Fillipponi had already announced it on social media during the game on Sunday. 

The question is why this phenomenon has not gained the same attention with the gushing national media inventing words like "Tomlining" your way to victory. It is not a secret. It has been happening for at least a decade. National media talking heads are quick to praise the Steelers' head coach, but very slow to criticize him for poor coaching. 

The putrid effort against the Cardinals drew little criticism for Tomlin's coaching outside of Pittsburgh. Any momentum the Steelers had from their opening drive evaporated after a questionable Elandon Roberts hit that drew a penalty and set the Cardinals up to even the game. When the Steelers' offense got back on track three drives later, only to lose their quarterback on a third and goal play, Tomlin chose to go for a fourth and goal from the one on Mitch Trubisky's first play from scrimmage.

Steelers' Mike Tomlin Defends Decision To Go For It On 4th Down

On the surface, it is a reasonable decision. However, not calling a timeout to get Trubisky and the offensive coaching staff on the same page was a mistake. Not as big of a mistake as lining up in shotgun on fourth and one however, and running Najee Harris away from the strength of the offensive line, but it was a mistake nonetheless.

It also brings into question who called the play. Based on the last three years, it feels like a Tomlin call. Maybe there is a good reason he didn’t stop Canada’s foolishness. He was running the offense exactly like Tomlin wanted it. It also begs the follow-up question of why this has been allowed to continue for a decade.

The Steelers have a series of embarrassing losses where the team seemed unprepared and hopelessly outplayed. It started with the Tim Tebow-led Denver Broncos playoff loss and should end with the Cardinals' debacle in Week 13. It has been a decade with virtually no accountability for these embarrassing losses. 

The current version of the Steelers lacks discipline and, for the first time in the Tomlin era, seems to have tuned out the Head Coach. The Steelers are lacking in veteran leadership. TJ Watt is not a vocal leader, but he is complaining publicly for the first time in his career. Cam Heyward and Minkah Fitzpatrick have missed significant portions of the season with injuries. The unfortunate truth is that the offense is exceedingly young and will not listen to players on the defensive side of the ball.

Kenny Pickett should be the offense's leader, but the combination of Pickett and Canada was so bad that it cost Tomlin his locker room. He has gotten credit in the past for keeping a lid on the Steelers' dysfunction. That ship sailed when Antonio Brown left town. JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson, and George Pickens have all had very public incidents that resulted in no immediate discipline.

Any cache that Tomlin had with his team is gone. A rumor circulated that the offense might have been playing poorly on purpose to get Canada fired. It is almost unthinkable that this kind of rumor would have surfaced five years ago. What started as a bad joke about a "Tomlin" game has become a cancer. There are precious few ways to cure what ails Pittsburgh, and ignoring the problem is no longer an option. 

What do you think, Steeler Nation? Are you fed up with an annual "Tomlin" game? Please comment below, or on my Twitter/X: @thebubbasq. 

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