It's time to stop sugar-coating what the 2023 Pittsburgh Steelers are. They're an extremely average team that somehow found a way to win all seven of their games by seven points or less. It has been an embarrassing past couple of weeks as Mike Tomlin's group dropped the Week 13 and 14 contests to the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots. Both squads were eight games under .500 entering the matchups, and the Steelers are the first team in NFL history with a winning record to ever drop back to back games to teams that were eight games under .500 or worse.
Pittsburgh has become one of the laughing stocks throughout the league since falling to the Cardinals and after the loss to the Patriots, the playoffs are slipping away. Time will tell if the Steelers can rebound in the final four games of the season, but hope is running out quickly and the offense is proving that it wasn't only Matt Canada that was the problem.
Well into the first quarter of the Thursday Night Football game, a former assistant for Pittsburgh wanted to chime in and take a slight shot at the team. Todd Haley, who was the team's offensive coordinator from 2012 to 2017, was confident that the Steelers would find a way to squeak out an ugly win against a significantly inferior opponent.
Haley was clearly implying what we all know to be true about Tomlin. He has never cared how the Steelers win. Most of the time, it has been ugly, especially in recent years. Haley's post validates the fact that performance is overlooked as long as the team finds a way to win.
Fast forward to a few quarters later, and Pittsburgh did not score more than their opponent. The approach is finally coming back to bite Tomlin, and the offense is a big piece as to why. Robert Golden, a former special teamer who played with the organization for all 92 games of his career, followed Haley up by endorsing him to fix the Steelers.
You know it's bad when two guys who haven't been a part of the franchise since 2017 are slightly chirping at the present day team. It can't get much worse. Haley calling the plays couldn't possibly be worse than what the on-field product has looked like in 2023.
It has gotten past the point of defending several higher-ups in the Steelers building and that includes Tomlin. No one should be safe after a brutal two-game stretch that should have easily solidified the team as contenders, not pretenders. There are so many holes on both sides of the ball and while injuries have played a part in that, the play on the field has been downright embarrassing.
It has become more of a joke to talk about the 2023 Steelers, rather than members of the media and former players and coaches taking them seriously. Fans in the Steel City remember the days of when Haley was calling plays, and while his time in Pittsburgh ended with a breakup because of his alleged disagreements with Ben Roethlisberger, he is certainly missed after watching the offense for a half decade.
Steelers Brass May Be Forced Into Tough Decision At Season's End
No one imagined that Tomlin could potentially be coaching for his job after a 7-4 start to the season, but if the Steelers find a way to finish at 7-10 and lose their remaining four games, a horrific six-game losing streak to end the year may just be what finally makes Art Rooney II pull the plug. The end of an era could be closer than anyone previously thought.
More must-reads: