Tomlin needs to go on fourth down more often

One of the reasons the Steelers have such poor time of possession is that they've rarely been on fourth down this year (only three times to be exact), and opponents have already been on fourth down 17 times (converted 11 times).

It's 2025, not the 2000s, but Tomlin is stuck with it... Like last game against the Bengals, down 30-24 with 5 minutes to go, it was a horrible decision to punt on a fourth down and 5, even if it worked out later.

There are several other examples in the past where Tomlin is way too safe in this situation, especially in the midfield.

I'm not asking to be crazy on fourth down but when you're on a fourth down and short in midfield and your offense is playing well but your defense is struggling, make no sense to punt on a fourth down and short, especially when you're behind in the scoreboard....So frustrating

 

He will never win another playoff game. It's like he looks at a sheet for answers and sticks to it no matter what.
It's a shame all these good players come through here and will never win any truly meaningful game with him again. Schedule is looking really tough these coming weeks. Missed opportunity against the Bengals.
And yes he needs to be more "out of the box".

 

I checked agree...but I'm not always a fan of the aggression in clear FG range. See many teams just give away points that way.

But I do miss the TD to AB on 4th and 1 days.

 

I was talked especially in situations like in midfield (like the game against Seattle in week 2) or when the steelers are down in the scoreboard.Remember last year against the eagles when the steelers had a 4 down and 8 in midfield with 10 left minutes in the game down 27-13?

Tomlin decide to punt and the offense did not touch the ball for the rest of the game....So many other example like that

 

100% agree!

 

I hate to see the Steelers go for it on fourth down because it very rarely works for them. Whether it's a poor play design or a false start it just seems to fail more often than not.

 

He did the same thing down 2 scores to the Browns in a playoff game. We kinda just have to understand that he is the most conservative in game decision maker. Unfortunately its just another reminder that our coaching staff is stuck in a world that is 15 years or more in the past. I'm not saying to be careless and go for it on 4th every time.... but its very clear that we have an old school mindset of "don't risk it, punt it away" and its making it more difficult for ourselves.

 

It's not exactly related, but remember there was one year where we led the league going for 2?

It's like we had an analytics guy for one season. Then just stopped.

When you trust the D more than the O, I think punting can be the better decision over going for it.

But we might be in a position where we should be trusting the offense more than the defense...which is a crazy thing to write about this team.

I also like the premise here where the team should be trying to figure out why we suck so much at ToP.

 

He should go for 2 more often again!!
would have beaten bengals for sure
they weren't stopping it

 

What makes it even more frustrating is that we should go for it on 4th and short much more often since our D can't get a 3 and out with any consistency.

 

The going for 2 stopped after a Cowboy game where we went for it 4 times and didn't make any of them. It also lost a playoff game to the Jags where we went for two twice and failed both times in a one point loss.

 

Eh
Keep your stick on the ice

 

We lost by 2 points vs Garrard Jags in '07 and 3 points vs Bortles Jags in '17. We'll lose to Lawrence Jags in '27 by 4 points if Popcorn is still coach.

 

Time of possession can be the fault of the offense or the defense. The defense is not producing 3 and outs. The offense makes it worse when an interception leads to a 1-play drive.

 

Your're right we lost by 2 in that 2007 playoff game. If we just would have kicked the extra points it would have at least gone into OT. I'll never get over that we were penalized back to the 12 yard line on a two point conversion in that game and Tomlin still went for it.

 

many times you cant teach an old dog new tricks. Thats why i keeping advocating for a coaching change.

going for it on 4th down has alot to do with how well your O line is playing.

 

The problem against the jaguars in 2007,I had no problem to go for 2 the first time when they were down 28-23,but the problem Tomlin has been going for 2 again after the penalty at the 12

 

That is exactly the play that made me lose faith in Tomlin. He's sucked since that very game.

 

It's the 2007 Jags loss (in 2008) with the 2 failed conversions. That's Tomlin's first year coaching since he was hired in Jan 2007. The year I was talking about where we went for many 2 pt conversions was I think when we still had the Killer Bs...and was maybe even after that?
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/200801050pit.htm

At first I assumed you meant the most recent one (where I think the fumble that went for a Jags DTD was the deciding factor). I didn't remember any 2 point conversion attempts or misses there.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201801140pit.htm

Looks like the Dallas game was in 2016? This might have been the year I was thinking of. Timeline fits. And we went for 2 after scoring the first TD 0-6.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/400874538/cowboys-steelers

I think this kind of illustrates why coaches don't often use analytics. The less obvious thing about analytics is that "this is the thing that the stats say should work more often than not over very large sample sizes". But most coaches don't have the opportunity to get to large sample sizes.

Even Tomlin "only" has just under 300 regular season games under his belt. This is a crazy long coaching career in the NFL, but it's still might not be enough games for a 53% vs 47% to give you the predicted long term average result. And even if it does the "sequence" of those returns matters way more than the long term average.

 

This is kind of a wild take IMO.

You know that was his first year coaching, right?

There's lots to complain about re: Tomlin. Particularly post-2010.

But saying that you lost complete faith in him because he didn't win his first playoff game is kind of wild. Particularly when he won the SB the following year (2008). And went to another one in 2010.