By Tim Clark / / Column, Tim's Two Cents
Two

Often we find out sequels aren’t nearly as good as the original. Worse yet, some sequels become a series. The Mike Tomlin coached Steelers have become like the Friday the 13th movie series. Each one becomes sillier and harder to believe.

Sunday’s 13-6 loss to a three win Browns team playing with a guy that has no business being an NFL starting quarterback, had plenty of silliness. The hard to believe part is anyone being surprised by the outcome. 

Losing to bad teams has become the standard for Tomlin.


It is why nobody should have been surprised, not that being numb to such performances make it any better of an experience.

This one was egregious.

They held the hapless Browns offense to 13 points, 10 really if you discount the throw away three at the end of the game. The only touchdown was a can of corn prayer Shedeur Sanders threw up in the air. One Steeler stood idly by while another aimlessly ran past the receiver who would come down with the pop up and roll into the end zone untouched.

But placing any blame for this loss on the defense would be misguided. Although I did suggest that the Steelers defense may need to score. They could have when Jack Sawyer intercepted a tipped pass, but ran like a 370 pound lineman and turned inside when he should have stayed outside. It should have set the Steelers up for at minimum a sure three points. No such luck, as the Steelers were denied on a fourth and one.

Oh it wasn’t a typical denial. On fourth and one, the Steelers either called for —or Aaron Rodgers audibled to— a go route to 4’10” Scotty Miller because, well, that is what the Steelers do. At least the past five years it is. From Ben’s last season playing with half a leg and half an arm to Mitch Trubisky to Mason Rudolph to Russell Wilson to Justin Fields to Aaron Rodgers, it has been the same.

It wasn’t just that idiotic play call, but the totality of this incredibly inept and pathetically boring offense.

From Randy Fichtner to Matt Canada to Artie Smith, the Steelers run nothing across the middle of the field. The rare times they —apparently by mistake— run a pattern in the middle of the field it is successful. Sunday was more of the same. The two best plays the Steelers ran all day were throws up the seam to Pat Friermuth. Despite being excellent in that area of the field, Friermuth has spent most of the season on a milk carton. I can only assume that is because his strengths may force the Steelers to throw more balls between the hashes. We wouldn’t want that.

The Steelers play calling is timid to say the least. It doesn’t matter who the offensive coordinator is, the plays stay the same. I must assume the blame falls on the head coach. The guy who always said, “We don’t live in our fears,” constantly coaches scared. Mike Tomlin tries not to lose rather than striving to go win the game. He wasn’t always that way. When Ben was in his prime, the Steelers would go for two at unscripted times.

Now?

Mike Tomlin cowers in his fears.

Aaron Rodgers fits right in. At 32, Rodgers was a gunslinger who flew by the seat of his pants. At 42 he is petrified of getting hurt. Sunday he admirably scrambled up the middle and was two open yards away from a crucial first down. Instead of taking a hit or diving head first, Rodgers gave himself up with a feet first slide. He was correctly marked a yard short of the first down. On fourth down came the infamous go route to a midget. Sorry, tiny person.

Not only did they run an excruciatingly stupid play, but they also turned down a sure three points in a game that, by their own admission, was going to be low scoring. If you knew that was going to be the case then why turn down points?

The play calling, the quarterback play from a 42 year old has been, and a receiving corps of mid to late 30 somethings were all just embarrassing. On a day when just mediocre effort from the offense would have secured victory and a playoff berth, the Steelers could only muster the usual Cleveland subzero performance. Tack on a broken arm from Darnell Washington —a player they have leaned on heavily— and you have one of, if not the most, embarrassing performances of the Mike Tomlin era.

Does it really matter if they win Sunday night against an average Ravens team? It is either 9 wins and out of the playoffs or 10 wins and a chance to get thumped, as usual, most likely by a Buffalo squad that already thumped them once in Pittsburgh. I would argue losing Sunday is the best outcome.

Why?

No matter how many sequels Mike Tomlin makes in Pittsburgh, they will all end up the same way. Win some you think he shouldn’t, lose one or two to really bad teams, run a God awful boring offense, and end up in what we now term the mushy middle. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Tomlin talks a lot —and I do love his Tomlinisms— but rarely backs it up. He blows kisses after victory and gives us coach speak after losses. The players love him. So what? Wouldn’t they rather win playoff games and contend for Super Bowls?

Tomlin has zero branches on his coaching tree after 19 years at the helm. ZERO. He has the same amount of playoff wins in the past nine seasons. Tomlin would say he isn’t defined by the narratives. Maybe he isn’t, but the owner should be very concerned by such narratives.

Someone needs to shake owner Art Rooney II out of his comatose state and ask him if he truly thinks this is the standard of expectation for Steelers football. Then ask him if he thinks things will change without actually making a change. The standard under Mike Tomlin has become status quo. Every other team in the league would have fired the man by now, regardless of what the blabbering idiots on TV tell you.

I said it a month and a half ago in this space, and I’ll say it again. There would be no better time to split with Tomlin. The Steelers host the draft in April. Why not start fresh with an offensive minded coach —it is about to be 2026 Art— and see if you can’t wrangle up the next great Steelers quarterback with all that draft capital you have piled up. Kyle Shanahan, Ben Johnson, Sean McVay, Sean Payton are coaching some of the best teams in the league. All are offensive wizards. Even a defense first guy like Mike Vrabel needed a superstar in the making quarterback like Drake Maye to win big.

Tomlin has never found a viable replacement for Ben Roethlisberger. One of about a zillion problems this team has under his leadership. I fell for the Aaron Rodgers mystique twice this season. My bad. I was right from the start when they signed him. 

Win Sunday. Lose Sunday. Who really cares?

Tweet of the Week

This is not so much the Tweet of the Week as much as it is the smoothest move of the week.

 

 

The Weekly Shiny Penny

Terry Smith couldn’t have done much better as interim coach at Penn State. His interview after the Nittany Lions victory in the Pinstripe Bowl showed a guy that loves the university he attended more than most and isn’t afraid to express those emotions. He was a refreshing change after James Franklin’s coach speak.

 


A Penny For My Final Thought…

In two days the calendar will flip to 2026. I will eat my fair share of sauerkraut in the hopes it brings me good luck. In lieu of that, maybe it can at least bring my sports teams some good luck.

First up for me is the Louisville Cardinals basketball team. I am hoping the Cards figure out how to rebound, have more hot shooting nights than not, and find themselves in a very friendly bracket come March. Oh, and beat Duke. Please, beat Duke.

After Louisville wins the national championship in March, the Steelers will find their next generational quarterback in the NFL Draft. That new quarterback will be coached by new head coach Wes Phillips. The irony of Bum Phillips’ grandson coaching the Steelers would be tremendous. As would the fact that the Steelers will have moved on from Mike Tomlin.

As summer comes, hopefully —and boy am I about out of hope— the Pirates are finally in contention. Miraculously, they have added a couple of bats to an impotent lineup. A marginally potent lineup coupled with a Paul Skenes led rotation may just have a chance. Also, bring back Andrew McCutchen.

Finally next fall, in addition to the Steelers running an actual modern offense that uses the middle of the field, I hope to see the USC Trojans win 10 games. Hopefully the Trojans defense will be better under new defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and new defensive line coach Ed Orgeron. Just for fun, I hope I see the Trojans triumph over Penn State because the Lions can’t tackle under DC D’Anton Lynn.

Let’s face it, if just one of those pipe dreams comes true it will be a fantastic sports year for me.

So, eat your kraut and make your New Year’s wishes. Why leave it to chance.

Just my two cents…