Mike Tomlin Admits To Steelers Not Making Any Adjustments In Embarrassing Fashion

The Pittsburgh Steelers fell to the Buffalo Bills at home on Sunday by a final score of 26-7 in a game where nothing went right for the black and gold. As bad as things were, the Steelers led 7-3 at halftime, but their lead wouldn't last long. The Bills would outscore Pittsburgh 19-0 in the second half to knock the Steelers out of the AFC playoff picture. It was yet another game where the Steelers felt as if they were in the driver's seat at the half, but a horrendous third quarter turned the game around.

The Steelers got the ball to start the third quarter, leading 7-3. If Pittsburgh was to put together a touchdown drive, it would've gone ahead 14-3 with all the momentum on its side. Instead, the exact opposite happened.

On the first play of the third quarter, Aaron Rodgers was sacked and stripped by Joey Bosa, which led to Christian Benford scooping it up and running it in for a touchdown. Buffalo took its first lead just 16 seconds into the third quarter, and it was all downhill from there.

The Steelers' next two drives in the quarter would end in an interception and a punt, with the Bills scoring touchdowns on the ensuing possession on both occasions, essentially putting the game away. In his post-game press conference, Head Coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged the team's poor third-quarter performance.

"That third quarter was awful. It was awful last week," Tomlin said. "We didn't play a good half of football. We turned the ball over. There's nothing mystical about it. Very similar to last week [against Chicago]."

Both offensively and defensively, the entire game was a complete disaster for the Steelers, not just the third quarter. Despite how bad things were in the first half, the Steelers took care of the ball and forced two Buffalo turnovers, turning one of those into a Jaylen Warren touchdown. The defense wasn't great, but the unit kept Pittsburgh in the game in the first half, but a completely different collective showed up after halftime.

The Steelers held reigning NFL MVP Josh Allen to just 123 passing yards and 38 yards on the ground, but thats only because he didn't need to do much.  James Cook torched the Pittsburgh defense for 144 yards on 32 carries, while Buffalo as a team ran for 249 yards, which broke the record for the most rushing yards by a visiting team at Acrisure Stadium. The Bills just lined up and ran straight at them over and over again, and the Steelers had no answers. 

Buffalo had the ball for what felt like the entire game, and it nearly did. The Bills dominated time of possession, holding onto the ball for 41:59 compared to just 18:01 for Pittsburgh. That time of possession gap tells most of the story. The Steelers just couldn’t get off the field, and when they finally did, the offense couldn’t stay on it long enough to give the defense a legitimate break.

It created this snowball effect where every mistake hit a little harder, every missed tackle felt bigger, and every stalled drive just dug the hole a little deeper. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the energy in the stadium and Pittsburgh sideline felt completely drained.

Steelers Once Again Blow Halftime Lead

It doesn’t help that this same storyline has kept repeating itself throughout the 2025 season. Sunday marks the fourth time that the Steelers held a halftime lead, only for it to vanish after a disastrous third quarter. In fact, it happened just seven days prior in Pittsburgh's 31-28 loss to the Chicago Bears. 

You can tell the frustration is growing, not just within the team but within the fan base as well. The season isn’t over, but losses like this make the margin for error razor thin. The Steelers can still turn things around, but they’ll need to put together a full 60 minutes of football, something they haven’t done in a long time.

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