The Pittsburgh Steelers have had constant issues with the defense, but the single biggest one is the miscommunication. That has been an issue for at least two seasons now, and possibly more. That should most likely be priority number one for the team, as that could potentially solve some of the issues with the secondary and linebackers. Once that gets fixed, then it will be easier to see which players are at fault for their on-field performance, as there are currently no answers for what is going on each week.
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Steelers' Jalen Ramsey speaks with Mike Tomlin on the sideline during a home game in 2025.
While making an appearance on 93.7 The Fan, insider Ray Fittipaldo explained where all the blame goes for the miscommunications in this scenario.
"It's been going on for years," Fittipaldo said. "A lot of people said, 'Oh, Minkah [Fitzpatrick]'s the problem.' Minkah's not here; Minkah's not the problem. 'Oh, Cam Sutton's the problem last year.' Cam Sutton's not here. Every team has some problems relaying the signals, but it's an ongoing issue here. Mike Tomlin and Teryl Austin are the coaches. They're the ones that need to accept the full blame here, but I'm sure it's on the players too."
Sure, the players are part of the question, but like Fittipaldo said, the ones that run this unit need to take some blame and they need to be the first ones to take action to finally stop this problem for good. Head Coach Mike Tomlin and Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin combine to do most things for this unit, so they need to be more accountable in the eyes of many fans.
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Steelers coaches Mike Tomlin (left), Karl Dunbar (middle) and Teryl Austin (right) stand on the sideline during a home game at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA.
Tomlin's defense is known to be one of the more difficult ones to learn in the NFL, especially for newcomers. When the Steelers overhauled their defense in 2025, they had to teach so many players his complicated schemes in a very short period of time, and it has not worked well. His unit needs more stability for this defense to have any chance of working.
Meanwhile, Austin has not done particularly well with calling this complicated gameplan, and he knows it. The problem is that he's not calling his defense, so it's a bit harder for him to adjust on the fly when he has to stay within his head coach's scheme and guidelines. Even if it's difficult, he still has to do it. He needs to find some way to make life easier on his players and get them in the right spots. That's a coordinator's job.
Unfortunately, the Steelers made their defense even older from a player age perspective, so the most likely scenario is that everything gets overhauled again in the near future. On top of that, Austin's contract expires at season's end. With how bad his unit has been, he may be let go.
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Steelers' Gerald Alexander coaching up his defensive backs during practice.
If all that truly does happen and the miscommunications remain, it becomes even more obvious that Tomlin is the main issue here. Austin has not been great either, but he is merely a symptom of the problem, not the primary cause. There is not a Minkah Fitzpatrick to trade away anymore. There's just a bunch of veterans that could get cut and/or retire at season's end.
Steelers Fixed One Communication Issue, But It's Not Enough
So far, it seems like linebacker Patrick Queen has been much better at barking out the signals to his teammates on the field. He struggled to pick up on the plays in his first season in Pittsburgh, and it ended in disaster. Obviously, there are more issues with miscommunications, but Queen is not part of it anymore. He has done his job well so far.
What do you think about Tomlin and Austin needing to take blame for communication problems? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.
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