Getty Image / Andy Lyons
It wasn’t long ago that the Pittsburgh Steelers were 7-4 and head coach Mike Tomlin was in the conversations for NFL Coach of the Year. But, it seems like ages ago, as the team has now lost three straight games after a 30-14 loss to the Indianapolis Colts has them at 7-7 and very much on the outside looking in of the playoff picture.
Tomlin is getting skewered for a questionable coaching decision late in the game, and the longtime Pittsburgh head coach’s seat is as hot as it’s ever been.
First off, Pittsburgh actually went up 13-0 in this game after a Mitch Trubisky quarterback sneak after a blocked punt gave them the ball at the one and a Trubisky touchdown pass to Diontae Johnson. From that point on, it was all Colts.
Pittsburgh was outgained 372-216 and lost the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Still, they were very much still in the game well into the second half until a questionable Tomlin decision took them out of it.
With Pittsburgh trailing 24-13 with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter and facing a 4th and 14 from the Colts’ 39-yard line, Tomlin decided to punt. Mind you, Chris Boswell is one of the best kickers in the NFL, he made a 56-yarder last week, and the game was being played in a dome. The punt only went 22 yards and Colts went on a fifteen-play drive that featured fourteen straight runs to start the possession for a field goal to go up 27-13. Given the putrid Steelers offense, the game was all-but over.
It was a very puzzling decision to say the least, and his explanation after the game didn’t provide any clarity or make any sense.
Mike Tomlin on his decision to punt instead of try a 57-yard field goal down 11 in the fourth quarter.
Let me know if any of you can make more sense of this than I can. pic.twitter.com/PtebTtrYr1
— Alan Saunders (@ASaunders_PGH) December 17, 2023
His reasoning is that since things hadn’t been going their way for a while in a game that the field goal would be missed? That is some logic.
It seems unlikely Pittsburgh will make the playoffs now at 7-7 in a crowded AFC. It seems more likely than ever that Mike Tomlin will not be the Steelers head coach next year after seventeen seasons with the team.