Steelers Are Running Out Of Scapegoats For Repeated Failure: "You Got To Point At Mike Tomlin"

The Pittsburgh Steelers have made lots of changes to their defense over the past two seasons. Many position groups have been overhauled, and a couple coaches have left for hopeful upgrades. The front office has been doing everything it can to supplement the roster with the best players it can find. There does not seem to be a quality player that General Manager Omar Khan will say no to, and it's shown in the hyper-aggressive offseasons. His goal is to win a Super Bowl no matter what. 

However, the Steelers have looked like anything but a Super Bowl contender. The defense has especially fallen off since the bye week in 2024, and everyone is scrambling for answers. While making an appearance on 93.7 The Fan, insider Ray Fittipaldo spoke about how the answers that the front office has come up with are entirely wrong.

"It's the same issues. It's the communication," Fittipaldo said. "Everyone said 'Oh, Grady Brown is gone, they got a new d-backs coach. That's got to improve.' It hasn't improved. 'Minkah [Fitzpatrick]'s gone. It was Minkah's fault.' Okay, Minkah's gone, and they're still doing the same thing. Eventually, you just got to point at Mike Tomlin. We all know this is his defense. He's got to find a way to straighten it out."

Every time there is a bad defensive game, the same story comes out: Head Coach Mike Tomlin runs this defense, and Teryl Austin is just a defensive coordinator in name only. Sure enough, the same issues keep popping up as before. Austin will likely be the next scapegoat.

Throughout the offseason, Minkah Fitzpatrick was constantly chastised for not having all the splash plays that he had in previous years, even though he was not targeted often unless he tried to come into the box to help stop the run. Jalen Ramsey has made a pair of huge splash plays, but the consistency isn't there.

The Steelers also spent all offseason talking about adjustments they would do to help their defense out. They were going to move TJ Watt around to be less predictable and deploy a new scheme that was built to make communication easier. The eye test, game tape, basic stats, and advanced analytics all agree that that has not happened at all yet. The defense is suffering because of that.

As Fittipaldo mentioned, nothing has seemingly changed. That has been the case for years. There are all these cool, new looks in training camp and preseason, but the regular season feels like more of the same, especially to Steeler Nation. That is why the Steelers have failed to win a playoff game since the 2016 season.

This is why many within the fan base are angry. The team promises to change every year, but the results have been very similar to recent disappointing seasons. Grady Brown, Fitzpatrick, and others were seen as possible reasons as letdowns in years past. Now, Tomlin has a defense that can't tackle, gets burned on the same crossing routes, and is getting out-schemed on a weekly basis.

Steelers Will Be The Same Team Until Real Accountability Is Had

Recently, new Steelers cornerback Darius Slay Jr. did have a bit of a silver-lining for fans during an appearance on The Richard Sherman Podcast. He noted that his former team, the Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles, were in a similar spot defensively last season as the Steelers are in now. Philly also started 1-1 and it wasn't until after their bye week until things really started to click. There's still time for Pittsburgh to turn it around, but they must first dig deep to truly resolve their internal issues.

What do you think about Fittipaldo's take on Tomlin and his scapegoats? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.

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