Groundhog Day

The bigger question is why the Steelers fail to generate offense. Look at the offensive coaching staff the Steelers have assembled over the last few years.

Matt Canada was a college journeyman offensive coordinator before he got here. He was not in consideration for any other NFL positions. Yet somehow he gets hired to be the Steelers offensive coordinator. Tomlin fires him and gives the job to Eddie Faulkner, a guy who is so unqualified to the job he is doing that they need someone else to actually make the in game play calls.

Anyone remember Shaun Sarrett or Adrian Klemm? Tomlin followed up those two mistakes by hiring Pat Meyer, a guy who came in with a track record of having poor offensive lines.

You reap what you sew. When you consistently hire offensive staff that have either a poor NFL track record of success, or none at all, what do you expect?

 

Yeah the 1998 squad was tough to watch. There are some similarities there. I think the big difference in 98-00 was that Cowher was not afraid to make changes. Tim Lewis=fired, Ray Sherman=fired, Kevin Gilbride=fired. Cowher recognized when things were not working and then made changes. When he brought in staff, he brought in good staff, Mike Mularky, Dick Lebeau. It is different now. Tomlin hires guys he's comfortable with. You can't win that way.

 

The biggest difference between Cowher and Tomlin is like you said,the coaching staff around the head coach and as you also say, if an OC or DC were bad, they were not with us for too long under Tomlin as was the case with the disaster of Matt Canada and even Keith Butler.Our O-line coach was also very poor outside of the 5 years of Mike Munchak

Under Cowher, the Steelers generally didn't keep problems for too long, especially if they had much better options than that!

 

This is where the whole "coaching tree" debate comes in. Teams raided Cowher's staff over the years because everyone wanted to try and grab a piece of Cowher's way of doing things. It is a compliment to the systems he put in place.

Tomlin's case is exactly the opposite. Tomlin never seems to hire anyone any other team wants. Teams are not eager to buy into Tomlin's system of doing things because frankly, his system of doing things regularly seems like a disorganized mess.

 

I appreciate your diligence sticking up for Tomlin. The truth of the matter is the Cincinnati Bengals have just as many injuries and Jake Browning at QB yet they seem to be getting better every week. The Houston Texans are coming off a game where nearly their entire team was out, yet they pulled off a win to stay in the playoff hunt with Case Keenum at QB. Compare those teams to what is happening with the Steelers. Fans make excuses for Tomlin, while other teams keep finding ways to overcome adversity. It is like I keep saying. We have this conversation about Tomlin yearly.

 

Next man up mentality matters big time in the NFL....The Steelers don't have that right now

 

I would almost argue Jake Browning and Case Keenum both are better then any QB we currently have on staff...including Pickett. Browning for sure.

 

So here we are. I don't even need to know how the off-season shakes out. I predict Tomlin will be back. Minimal changes will be made. The 2024 Steelers will eek out a winning season and either barely miss the playoffs, or make it and get smacked. Rinse, spit, repeat.

 

History repeats itself...

Blow it up

 

How is Detroit doing it?

 

A loaded offense that's how their defense stinks.

 

I thought they had numerous in jury's also?

 

They do on defense, but they can still outscore most of the teams in the league.

 

No

 

Must have been that Bean Burrito talking to him...

 

Okay...How about 10-3?

 

Good

Not great

But I have high standards

 

It should be Groundhog December. Steelers doing their usual tail spin losing streak.

 

Tomlin's strengths as a HC have always been off the field not on it, which is why we're always at least .500 and in and around the playoffs, but never strong enough to truly compete for a SB over the last few years. We need better co-ordinators and better game management. I'd love to see what an elite level co-ordinator could do with the talent we have, we're not short on talent, we're short on coaching.

 

Missing their top rb

 

That is me after a drunken stupor

 

Excellent points. This is my single biggest frustration with Tomlin and the organisation. The lack of imagination and ambition in relation to coaching hires. Not only have they made bad hires but they hold onto them for far too long as well.

I was ok with the Arthur Smith hire annd he appears to be doing a good job but he doesn’t really have the horses to run a high powered offence.

To be fair I think this years ‘collapse’ is injury and schedule related. I know everyone is beat up but the Steelers have been severely undermanned at key skill positions in recent weeks.

On the positive side I think the drafting has improved dramatically since Khan took over. They left themselves short at WR after the pursuit of Aiyuk in the offseason but apart from that they’re doing a good job of rebuilding the roster, which was in bad shape after they tried to run it back with Ben in 2021. The Kenny Pickett pick in 2022 was a disaster as well.

I haven’t given up on 2024, they have a mini bye after the game tomorrow and then they face the Bengals. I do think that this team can win a playoff game if healthy, but they need to be aiming higher than that.

 

I think they are a little short on talent too, especially on offence and most especially when Pickens isn’t on the field.

One mistake I’d argue they made in recent years was letting Brian Flores leave rather than promoting him to DC. There is no way to be sure of course, but I’d bet any money that our Defence would be better right now if they had done that. Other coaches and players have spoken in the media this year about how hard his defence in Minnesota is to play against