Some fans think the Steelers underachieved with Ben and Tomlin

Management is to blame too. Colbert should have started drafting 4-3 alignment on D after losing to Rodgers and Packers in XLV. Brady, Rodgers and Brees were all more vulnerable to 4-3 alignment.

 

The Patriots were 14-2 that year.
The two teams they lost to that season were the Jets and the Browns (5-11).

The Pats lost by 20, while the Steelers won both Browns' games, by 18 and 32 points.
(Whenever people claim that last year was embarrassing for losing to the Browns with an injury-depleted team, point them to the 2010 Patriots. Colt McCoy had a higher QB rating than Brady in that game.)

 

Not entirely true.


What all three are vulnerable from is the pass rush that stems from the Interior Defensive Line. For that matter, it takes more than one great Interior Defensive Lineman to bring any of them down. Between 2017 to even now, a strong debate can be made for Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt as the best Defensive Interior duo in the game. The woes are not entirely related to merely one Defensive Scheme but rather where exactly is that pressure coming from.


Realistically speaking, the best way to take down any HOF QB is to send four and drop seven. That said, having a group of four a la the 2015 Denver Broncos is easier said than done.

 

Right. But the point is, the pats didn’t win that game. They lost to an inferior team that they should have beaten.

So the problem with the “we’d never get to the SB in 2010 if we’d played the pats” is that they had every chance to play us. It wasn’t like a luck of the draw thing. The question should be “we’d never get to the SB if the pats hadn’t **** their own bed.”

 

So all these years of failure it seems you're only blaming the HC, what about the players ? In 2010 against Green Bay where were this legendary defense against Rodgers? I don't recall Troy, Woodley, or Harrison making a play in that game.

 

We are talking about Ben and Tomlin underachieving, so my focus is on just them.

 

In just about every big game Ben turns the ball over too much, putting the team in a hole.

 

I agree with you here.

 

Oh please, you guys give the players a pass too much, so Ben turns the ball over repeatedly that's a failure, are you going to bench him? I put more on the players because they're the ones on the field, go out and make a play.

 

I would call him TINA.

Meaning: "There is no alternative."

Even if there was a top coach available AND nobody snatched him first, then we have our Steeler tradition of sticking with the head coach until he retires.

Verdict: We are doomed, LOL, or at least until we get lucky.

Need another franchise QB, be able to play defense at a high level, and effectively run the ball (balance). Note we don`t need to RELY on running, just keep the opposition honest. I`m keeping my expectations low until then.

This is the last season to realistically hope to get lucky for a long time IMO.

Maybe we stink up the joint for a few years, Tomlin quits, then we see change. Very well may happen just like that.

 

Even good coaches, like Cowher, benefit from luck.
What would Cowher's legacy be, if his team didn't go to SB XL, let alone win it?
15 seasons, only 1 SB appearance, and plenty of playoff failures as one of the top AFC teams.

Instead, the owners forced Cowher to draft a potential franchise QB.
Even then, Ben might have stayed as the 3rd QB for his first two seasons.
Ben saw the field only because both Batch and Maddox got injured.