Steelers' Mike Tomlin blames one player for crucial loss to Browns

The Pittsburgh Steelers had a great chance to win the AFC North in Week 17, but they came out slow and soft against the Cleveland Browns and eventually lost 13-6. The frustrating thing about it is that many fans saw this loss coming from a mile away, especially since Huntington Bank Stadium has been Pittsburgh's kryptonite in recent years. Now, one more loss will cause the team to miss the playoffs. If that does happen, everyone will look back at the defeat to the 3-12 team that had been eliminated from the postseason for many weeks. 

To make things worse, head coach Mike Tomlin ran away from accountability. During his typical Tomlin Tuesday news conference, he made a point to throw one of his star players under the bus, even though the coach should be the one accepting fault for that disaster of a game.

"When a game is going like that, usually you look for a splash play or two, maybe from defense or special teams to kickstart you and give you a leg up," Tomlin explained. "Although our defense and special teams were solid, we missed out on those game-changing or momentum-changing plays. I thought we had one two minutes or so before halftime. [Nick] Herbig had his hands on a ball in our left flat, and he certainly had an opportunity to run it back had he caught it."

Yes, edge-rusher Nick Herbig did indeed have a dropped interception in the game, and that play does hurt. However, blaming him for not capitalizing during that moment, especially while not owning up to some questionable coaching decisions in that very same game, has many fans uneasy about the coach's statements.

Herbig has had his fair share of splash plays, but they came from him doing what he's good at: rushing the quarterback. He doesn't play a position where catching the ball is a consistent feat. In fact, the Steelers teach their pass-rushers to knock the ball down when they don't go to the quarterback, as multiple players have confirmed in the past. Herbig does, however, have one career interception, which came earlier in the 2025 season.

Regardless, the Steelers did get their game-changing defensive splash plays, but they did absolutely nothing with them. Before that drive, edge-rusher Jack Sawyer caught a pass that was perfectly deflected to him and ran it back into field goal range, where the offense opted to run a questionable play on 4th-and-1. The play was a go route to Scotty Miller, as opposed to a tush push or a field goal to make it a 10-9 game. 

On top of that, Sawyer got the interception because it was an easy play with no one around, as it got deflected into the air and fell perfectly into his lap, while Herbig had to make a contested catch on the run, which he does not do often. Safety Kyle Dugger also had an interception in the game, but the Steelers punted it after getting just one first down.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin keeps deflecting blame to others around him