Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Steelers HC gets brutally honest on team's recent performance

The Pittsburgh Steelers' chances of making the playoffs continued to diminish on Saturday afternoon after losing to the Indianapolis Colts, 30-13. 

The Steelers were 7-4 just a few weeks ago, but after losing three straight they're now at 7-7. To make matters worse, the Colts gained ground on Pittsburgh in the AFC wild-card race, as did the Cincinnati Bengals after beating the Minnesota Vikings in overtime on Saturday. Cincinnati and Indianapolis are now both at 8-6. 

The Steelers squandered a 13-0 lead as the Colts scored 30 unanswered points all while Pittsburgh's offense was sloppy. The Black and Gold had three turnovers, including two interceptions by quarterback Mitch Trubisky. They had just 216 yards of total offense and their subpar play doesn't seem to have any chance of improving. 

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was frustrated after the loss and told some harsh truths at his news conference. 

“Let’s be honest, we’re a fundamentally poor football group right now,” Tomlin said. “We’re playing losing football and I take responsibility for that. We're not doing fundamental things well enough. We're turning the ball over, we're highly penalized, we don't play good in situations. I'm just acknowledging that. I don’t necessarily have the answers today. If I did, we’d have played differently today. But I will acknowledge things will not continue the way that they are.”

Tomlin vowed that his team would not remain on this path. 

"Things won't continue the way they are," Tomlin said. "We're not gonna keep doing the same things we're doing and expect or hope for a different result."

Next up for Pittsburgh is a tilt against Cincinnati at home. It's hard to fathom the Steelers' offense flipping the script and prevailing over a Bengals team that has momentum after winning their last three games. However, Pittsburgh beat Cincy, 16-10, last month. 

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