The Pittsburgh Steelers are getting ready to begin divisional play as they will host the Cincinnati Bengals in the Steel City on Sunday. As head coach Mike McCarthy is searching for answers on offense, they will have to find something that gets them in rhythm quickly as they go up against a high-powered offense led by quarterback Joe Burrow. On Friday night, the organization held its 2026 Hall of Honor dinner. While they honored former players, as well as former general manager Kevin Colbert, there was one other speaker at the event that delivered some strong words to the team ahead of Sunday's matchup.
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Mike McCarthy looks on during a Week 1 game against the Falcons.
Former Head Coach Mike Tomlin had some big praise for the organization at Friday night's dinner. While doing so, he mentioned that he now has a job to do as he heads to Denver, Colorado for Sunday night's game between the Los Angeles Rams and Denver Broncos. While discussing that he had to go do that, he decided to wrap up his statements with a strong message to McCarthy's team.
“I’m so thankful,” Tomlin said. “I feel so blessed to have had an awesome journey with a collection of awesome people. Thank you, it’s great to be home, I wish that I could be here Sunday for this butt kicking that we’re going to put on the Cincinnati Bengals.”
Given this bold message he delivered ahead of the contest on Sunday, it appears that the former Black and Gold head coach is still very tuned in to what the team is doing on the field despite his new role working for NBC Sports as a studio analyst on Football Night in America.
His words to the team also make it clear about his feelings toward the franchise despite his departure. Now the team has to go out on the field and its their former head coach's bold message about the game against Cincinnati.
Former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger also chimed in about the team this past week during his Footbahlin' with Ben Roethlisberger podcast. He has not liked what he has seen from the offense so far and that was a significant indictment on McCarthy given that he was brought to the Steel City to turn the offense around for the Black and Gold.
The offense will have to put the first two weeks of the 2026 NFL season in the rearview mirror and find a way to get in rhythm if it is going to keep up with Burrow and Co.
Steelers' Ways To Deliver Butt Kicking Tomlin Wants To See Sunday
One way to start getting the offense in rhythm on Sunday would be to get the ground game going early and often. With running back Rico Dowdle out, they can still turn to Jaylen Warren who was their bell cow back in the 2025 season. The running game has been a huge disappointment in the first two contests of 2026 so that would be a huge way to open up the play-action pass for the offense.
Another key to Sunday's tilt will be to find a way to get wide receiver DK Metcalf in rhythm, as he has experienced some early woes with not being able to secure the football. Getting him some looks where he can get the ball in his hands can help them to produce some big plays and sustain drives. The other benefit to doing so is getting him his confidence back and quickly putting the early woes to the season behind him.
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Pittsburgh Steelers’ DK Metcalf runs the ball at Gillette Stadium during a 2026 game against the New England Patriots.
Cincinnati has put up a total of 53 combined points in its first two games this season which has them off to a 2-0 start. The Steelers, however, have struggled to put up points and have just 23 total points in that same timeframe. Pittsburgh's defense has had an impressive start to the season thus far.
If that is going to continue, the offense must find ways to sustain drives to keep them fresh while scoring points in order to back Tomlin's bold message about the game.
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