Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin's Arrogant Comments Have Absolutely Continued To Haunt Him

Even though the Pittsburgh Steelers are 4-2, some fans have already started smashing the panic button. The highest-paid defense in the NFL got torched by 40-year-old Joe Flacco just 10 days after he was acquired via trade by the Cincinnati Bengals, and the coaching staff seems to be lost on what went wrong in that Thursday Night Football contest. Outside of a couple games, the defensive unit has looked bad for the most part, and with the upcoming schedule, the outlook for it does not look good in the slightest at this point. 

If you listened to this team in training camp, you never would have thought this would happen. A fan brought that up to insider Brian Batko in his weekly Q&A chat on Monday, as it seems like the team always suffers catastrophic failure whenever the Steelers gloat. Batko had to agree with that observation.

"Yeah that's sort of an interesting observation," Batko said. "And that's part of why I felt like the Steelers were doing just a little too much talking back in July and August. Why even tempt fate? Why not just put your head down and work, under-sell and over-deliver? Especially with how recent seasons have collapsed so embarrassingly."

Head Coach Mike Tomlin and safety Juan Thornhill led the charge in training camp in talking about how "historic" this defense could be. Instead, they are much closer to being historic for mostly the wrong reasons. Beating up on the Dillon Gabriel-led Cleveland Browns is not an overly satisfying accomplishment for the fan base, as that unit is still trying to figure out how to work as a cohesive unit against better teams.

Overall, the Steelers are over-reliant on splash plays, as opposed to just playing a true hard-nosed, physical Steelers brand of defense. If they don't get multiple turnovers in a game, odds are they lose, no matter how well the offense plays. They are the 28th-ranked unit in terms of total yards allowed, according to multiple websites. That is not the historic defensive powerhouse that Tomlin and his team envisioned in August.

The Steelers made players like Flacco and Justin Fields look like elite passers. Flacco was traded away for struggling with his old team, and Fields just got benched for being unable to move the football consistently after his Week 7 loss. As a team, you have to continue to do well against all types of passers if you want to be seen as elite.

Steelers' Struggles With Talking Trash

This is not the first time that Tomlin and his team had to shove his foot in his mouth. As the fan in Batko's chat mentioned, everyone on the team, including the head coach, spoke about how they were going to get revenge on the New England Patriots in the 2017 AFC Championship Game. They never even made it there as the defense got obliterated by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Divisional Round. 

After learning absolutely nothing from that embarrassment, Tomlin and JuJu Smith-Schuster publicly called out the Browns prior to their matchup in the 2020 Wild Card game. Those "nameless gray faces" kicked the Steelers up and down the field without their head coach or offensive coordinator, who were both at home all week due to COVID. Pittsburgh let Cleveland run the game on its own home field in the playoffs.

After Tomlin made headlines for benching Fields in favor of Russell Wilson in 2024, the veteran quarterback had a great set of games. Tomlin gloated about that decision, saying "That's why I'm well-compensated." After that, the Steelers had one of their patented late-season collapses, and Wilson was run out of town by the coaching staff. 

What do you think about Tomlin once again being forced to eat crow after bragging about his defense in August? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.

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