Steelers’ State Of The Union in 2025

The goal in Pittsburgh, as it is in most franchises in the NFL, is to win Championships. Period. End of story. That is the goal. “The Standard is the Standard” as Tomlin says. Well that standard has gotten into a car and driven itself directly off of a cliff in recent years.

Mike Tomlin prides himself on his defense being able to win games, create turnovers, and get sacks. None of that is happening with this current iteration of Tomlin’s defense. Over $160 million has been invested into this defense this past offseason, making them the highest paid overall unit in the NFL.

That same defense, you would think, must be near the top of the league statistically, right? Oh no, not this defense. This defense ranks dead last against the pass, 28th in total defense, and 18th against the run. Those are not the stats the highest paid defense in the NFL should boast. These last two games are incredibly damning to Tomlin and the figurehead that is DC Teryl Austin.

Against the Bengals last Thursday night, Bengals running back Chase Brown came into the game averaging just over two yards per carry. He finished the game with 108 yards rushing on just 11 carries for an average of 9.8 yards per carry. But that’s not even what the real issue in that game was.

Joe Flacco repeatedly picked their soft coverage apart for 342 yards and 3 TDs, repeatedly finding wide open receivers all over the field. Wide Receiver Jamaar Chase has 23 targets and 16 catches for 161 yards and a TD.

Twenty three targets. Normal, forward thinking coaches would adjust to that and make sure the best receiver in football doesn’t beat you. Not Mike Tomlin. Chase and others were repeatedly left wide open and despite the Steelers offense putting up 31 points, it wasn’t enough to beat a Bengals team with a 40 year old QB that had only been there for ten days.

Instead they made him look unstoppable. Fast forward to this past Sunday night. This time it was TE Tucker Kraft who was repeatedly left wide open over and over again. He bounced off of horrible tacklers all game long and the Packers, who are a much better team than the Bengals, just completely wiped the floor with that pathetic excuse for a defense.

Now I know I’m probably just coming off as an angry fan and to a certain extent that is true, but anybody who knows anything about football knows that this type of football simply will not get it done in today’s NFL.

End Of Steelers Rant

All of this speaks to the bigger problem that I mentioned at the start. The problem with this team solely rests on the shoulders of Mike Tomlin. It is time for a change. It has been time for a change. It was time last year after a 10-3 start that ended with a five game losing streak that ultimately saw them give up a multiple game lead to the Ravens before they ultimately took the division. This year at one point, the Steelers were 4-1 and the Ravens sat in the basement at 1-5.

After two bad losses and a gauntlet of a schedule coming up, they now are clinging to a 2.5 game lead to those same Ravens and if they give up this division, and there’s no reason to think that they won’t, I just don’t see how you can justify bringing Mike Tomlin back.

The truly sad thing is, Art Rooney II doesn’t have the guts to make the decision that needs to be made and that is to fire Mike Tomlin, fire DC Teryl Austin and bring in some actual coaches who can guide this team because right now, this is not a competitive football team and every Steelers fan knows, no changes or adjustments will be made. The Standard is the Standard after all.