DK: That's more than enough ... Tomlin's got to go
Fire Mike Tomlin.
There. I typed it, indelible ink and all. And I'd never do so lightly, no matter how unlikely it'd be that it actually occurs, much less toward someone who's done what he's done for so long.
But yeah, it's enough now. It's more than enough.
It's ... tired.
Oh, I hadn't been opposed to it for several years now, as I'll reiterate. I could take it or leave it without complaint. But this scenario's so strikingly different. It really is. If only because it's the first time over the course of the man's two-decade tenure, I'm comfortable saying having covered most of it, that we'd witnessed such a spectacularly stark contrast between the personnel and the product play out in plain sight.
Think about it: All of six weeks ago, this scene was 10-3, command of the AFC North, a top-10 offense in points being produced, a top-10 defense with two DPOY types, and a set of special teams beyond parallel that starred the sport's premier kicker.
And then, with the seeming snap of a finger, it was this:
Followed by this familiarly silent, somber scene in the cement cellar of M&T Bank Stadium that I filmed from just outside the visitors' locker room:
That's five consecutive losses to close the schedule, a span in which they never led for a split-second, an in-season collapse unlike any in franchise history.
That's eight years without a playoff victory, their longest such stretch in the Super Bowl era.
That's six playoff losses in a row, almost all as lopsided and lousy as this one.
That, my friends ... that's tired.
____________________
Once those players above made it to that room, reality appeared to hit that much harder.
Patrick Queen, who'd switched sides in this archrivalry a year ago, was having trouble breathing, hunched over to his right as he sat at his stall. A minute later, he'd need an assistant's help removing his jersey and upper-body pads.
"It hurts," he'd tell me as I walked by, and I don't think he meant anything physical.
T.J. Watt, whose next NFL playoff victory will be his first, also fired a blank individually here: No tackles, not even an assist. Two misses, though. No hits. No hurries. No nothing. And when a defensive player doesn't register in any category, his name's left completely off the postgame sheet.
He couldn't move. Head down. Clasped hands over it. I don't think that was physical, either.
Cam Heyward, still without a ring, had been clanged in the head and forced out of the game for a spell. He predictably returned. Just as predictably, he'd put up 10 tackles, two for losses.
I asked if he was OK. "No," came the uncharacteristic reply, barely audible.
Larry Ogunjobi was right next to him.
"This sucks, man," he'd say upon looking up my way.
I attempted a football-specific question there. Dumb on my part.
"I don't know, my man, it's just ..."
I cut him off right there and apologized, thanked him for his time and sought out the one person I knew could always be counted on to be chatty under any circumstance.
Nope.
"Nothin' " Elandon Roberts would tell me after a team-best 14 tackles. "I got nothin'."
Not sure I do, either, to be honest, as it relates to these players. It wasn't the strongest, deepest roster in the league, but it'd be nuts to believe it wasn't above-average, possibly better. Certainly among those starting on the defensive side, but also with a couple more on offense.
I'd mentioned to Calvin Austin, who emerged as one of those pluses in a year of real growth, that it felt like this collective could've easily come across a friendlier fate.
"You feel me?" he'd reply, both eyebrows rising. "Look around in here. Look at the talent."
I didn't have to. None of us would have to. Even the most concrete cynic would concede that, while the talent wasn't at any great level, it never should've been blown up -- heck, bullied at times -- the way it just was for a month and a half. It should've been, at worst, competitive, regardless of the results.
Put it like this: It could've been more like Philadelphia, a lot less like Baltimore.
Everyone's to blame. Let me get that out of the way. Everyone who flew here and back on the team charter, maybe this side of Chris Boswell, deserves to be dealt their own slice. That's almost always true in team sports, and this isn't close to an exception.
And yet, when some of the most glaring issues seem so similar through five games, or through a full season, or through six, seven, eight seasons ...
Look, this wasn't akin to the debacle against the Bengals a week ago, a loss that saw some of the most idiotic coaching I'd covered in any single game in any sport in my career. But it sure came with some beauties of its own:
• For most of Lamar Jackson's career, the Steelers have been more successful than anyone in limiting his damage. That's been primarily through using their edge rushers to attack the pocket from the sides like an accordion and, in the process, crash down on the running back. That way, Jackson and the back are both in their sights. That was precisely the plan here, too, as became evident immediately.
Well, turns out John Harbaugh and his staff spent their week conceiving new ideas:
“I’m just doing what the game plan asked for," T.J. would say to this topic. "That’s all I’ll say.”
Oh, OW.
No big deal, I guess: Henry'd only run for 186 yards, Jackson for another 81.
• Cam Sutton shouldn't have been brought back to the NFL after the league suspended him half the season following an investigation of spousal abuse -- which Sutton didn't appeal, by the way -- and he definitely shouldn't have been handed the starting nickel job once rookie Beanie Bishop had begun ascending there.
But Tomlin and Sutton have long been tight, and Bishop was out almost at the first chance. That stayed the case even after several defensive teammates threw public digs apparently aimed at both Sutton's performance and his passion for the team.
Tomlin's knock on Bishop has been that he can't cover well enough. Imagine what he'd think about Sutton's through a clear, non-personal prism. This was a recurring event.
Countless layers to this conversation, and one we'll surely have through the long winter, but that sack's not the fault of fill-in left tackle Calvin Anderson. It's Russell Wilson running right into the damned thing, Kenny Pickett-style.
Nothing, nothing, nothing has held back this offense like Wilson holding onto the ball forever and, on top of that, fooling himself into thinking he's still younger and can escape such scenarios.
He can't. Justin Fields can.
My feeling at the time that Tomlin replaced Fields with Wilson -- and childishly boasted about his decision after Wilson's impressive debut, "That's why I'm well compensated" -- was that Fields' trajectory was terrific. As Fields and I discussed briefly after this game, he'd already checked so many boxes that he feel confident about where he was headed ... the plug was pulled.
Don't let that one go because Wilson had a handful of strong starts. If the only thing that this season had brought to the Steelers was a long-term starting quarterback, it could've been seen as a small success.
Now, who knows what's next?
• Early second quarter. Third-and-2. Wilson throws short to Pat Freiermuth, who's stopped no more than two inches shy of a first down at the Pittsburgh 28.
Summon Fields for a fourth-down try?
Ram Najee Harris through there?
Get clever, as the Ravens have with the unstoppable direct snaps to tight end Mark Andrews?
Nah, just punt to the NFL's No. 1 offense, which hadn't come close to being stopped to that stage, and put that already exhausted defense right back on the field, only to have Jackson and the Ravens storm 85 yards for another touchdown.
Six minutes to go. Fourth-and-15 in Baltimore territory. Kinda obvious what's needed. No time to get crafty.
So Freiermuth sits, and Connor Heyward's in.
Mike Williams sits, and Van Jefferson's in.
And Wilson's desperation heave toward the end zone targets not Williams, not George Pickens, but a 5-7, 161-pound Austin engulfed in triple-coverage.
Why have practices or playbooks at all?
____________________
Make the change.
As in, make the change.
So much change is needed, and I say that independent of a parallel conversation that's got to be had about rebuilding vs. reloading vs. playing for Cam/T.J. vs. plotting a path toward the franchise quarterback that's pretty much a must for anyone to make it to the Super Bowl.
No change will suffice without one at head coach.
It doesn't need to be disrespectful. It sure doesn't need to be some unceremonious dumping. It can be Art Rooney II and Tomlin having the ultimate heart-to-heart and attempting to work out what's best for both parties, possibly with the Steelers reaping a first-round draft pick in the process and Tomlin, should he choose, finding a fresh start I'm figuring he could use, too.
Whatever the case, rearranging all the chairs again won't cut it.
In this game alone, Arthur Smith might not have burned as many boats as he'd have liked, but he at least fulfilled his pledge to stop doing some stuff that wasn't working -- no stupid pitchouts! -- but he'd still be held back by Tomlin's undying preference for Harris over Jaylen Warren and, for that matter, Wilson over Fields.
Remember how, when Tomlin was reminding us about his pay scale, he also acknowledged that his choice of Wilson was far from a consensus among his coaches?
Mm-hm.
Rooney can't continue, every January in his annual meeting with reporters, to put forth statements like this one from a year ago about winning in the playoffs: "There's an urgency. I think everybody, myself, Mike, guys that have been on the team for a while ... everybody, we've had enough of this. It's time to get some wins. It's time to take these next steps."
He has to know what the next step is.
No way he's not tired of this, too.
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THE ASYLUM
Dejan Kovacevic
5:18 am - 01.12.2025BaltimoreDK: That's more than enough ... Tomlin's got to go
Fire Mike Tomlin.
There. I typed it, indelible ink and all. And I'd never do so lightly, no matter how unlikely it'd be that it actually occurs, much less toward someone who's done what he's done for so long.
But yeah, it's enough now. It's more than enough.
It's ... tired.
Oh, I hadn't been opposed to it for several years now, as I'll reiterate. I could take it or leave it without complaint. But this scenario's so strikingly different. It really is. If only because it's the first time over the course of the man's two-decade tenure, I'm comfortable saying having covered most of it, that we'd witnessed such a spectacularly stark contrast between the personnel and the product play out in plain sight.
Think about it: All of six weeks ago, this scene was 10-3, command of the AFC North, a top-10 offense in points being produced, a top-10 defense with two DPOY types, and a set of special teams beyond parallel that starred the sport's premier kicker.
And then, with the seeming snap of a finger, it was this:
Ravens 28, Steelers 14.
Followed by this familiarly silent, somber scene in the cement cellar of M&T Bank Stadium that I filmed from just outside the visitors' locker room:
That's five consecutive losses to close the schedule, a span in which they never led for a split-second, an in-season collapse unlike any in franchise history.
That's eight years without a playoff victory, their longest such stretch in the Super Bowl era.
That's six playoff losses in a row, almost all as lopsided and lousy as this one.
That, my friends ... that's tired.
____________________
Once those players above made it to that room, reality appeared to hit that much harder.
Patrick Queen, who'd switched sides in this archrivalry a year ago, was having trouble breathing, hunched over to his right as he sat at his stall. A minute later, he'd need an assistant's help removing his jersey and upper-body pads.
"It hurts," he'd tell me as I walked by, and I don't think he meant anything physical.
T.J. Watt, whose next NFL playoff victory will be his first, also fired a blank individually here: No tackles, not even an assist. Two misses, though. No hits. No hurries. No nothing. And when a defensive player doesn't register in any category, his name's left completely off the postgame sheet.
He couldn't move. Head down. Clasped hands over it. I don't think that was physical, either.
Cam Heyward, still without a ring, had been clanged in the head and forced out of the game for a spell. He predictably returned. Just as predictably, he'd put up 10 tackles, two for losses.
I asked if he was OK. "No," came the uncharacteristic reply, barely audible.
Larry Ogunjobi was right next to him.
"This sucks, man," he'd say upon looking up my way.
I attempted a football-specific question there. Dumb on my part.
"I don't know, my man, it's just ..."
I cut him off right there and apologized, thanked him for his time and sought out the one person I knew could always be counted on to be chatty under any circumstance.
Nope.
"Nothin' " Elandon Roberts would tell me after a team-best 14 tackles. "I got nothin'."
Not sure I do, either, to be honest, as it relates to these players. It wasn't the strongest, deepest roster in the league, but it'd be nuts to believe it wasn't above-average, possibly better. Certainly among those starting on the defensive side, but also with a couple more on offense.
I'd mentioned to Calvin Austin, who emerged as one of those pluses in a year of real growth, that it felt like this collective could've easily come across a friendlier fate.
"You feel me?" he'd reply, both eyebrows rising. "Look around in here. Look at the talent."
I didn't have to. None of us would have to. Even the most concrete cynic would concede that, while the talent wasn't at any great level, it never should've been blown up -- heck, bullied at times -- the way it just was for a month and a half. It should've been, at worst, competitive, regardless of the results.
Put it like this: It could've been more like Philadelphia, a lot less like Baltimore.
Everyone's to blame. Let me get that out of the way. Everyone who flew here and back on the team charter, maybe this side of Chris Boswell, deserves to be dealt their own slice. That's almost always true in team sports, and this isn't close to an exception.
And yet, when some of the most glaring issues seem so similar through five games, or through a full season, or through six, seven, eight seasons ...
Look, this wasn't akin to the debacle against the Bengals a week ago, a loss that saw some of the most idiotic coaching I'd covered in any single game in any sport in my career. But it sure came with some beauties of its own:
• For most of Lamar Jackson's career, the Steelers have been more successful than anyone in limiting his damage. That's been primarily through using their edge rushers to attack the pocket from the sides like an accordion and, in the process, crash down on the running back. That way, Jackson and the back are both in their sights. That was precisely the plan here, too, as became evident immediately.
Well, turns out John Harbaugh and his staff spent their week conceiving new ideas:
See T.J. charging at Derrick Henry? And Alex Highsmith from the bookend side?
Now, see Jackson trot untouched to the right sideline?
Happened all evening long. Without an adjustment from Tomlin and/or Teryl Austin throughout.
Not that it went unnoticed:
Ow.
“I’m just doing what the game plan asked for," T.J. would say to this topic. "That’s all I’ll say.”
Oh, OW.
No big deal, I guess: Henry'd only run for 186 yards, Jackson for another 81.
• Cam Sutton shouldn't have been brought back to the NFL after the league suspended him half the season following an investigation of spousal abuse -- which Sutton didn't appeal, by the way -- and he definitely shouldn't have been handed the starting nickel job once rookie Beanie Bishop had begun ascending there.
But Tomlin and Sutton have long been tight, and Bishop was out almost at the first chance. That stayed the case even after several defensive teammates threw public digs apparently aimed at both Sutton's performance and his passion for the team.
So, hey, way to go:
What trash. The play, I mean.
Tomlin's knock on Bishop has been that he can't cover well enough. Imagine what he'd think about Sutton's through a clear, non-personal prism. This was a recurring event.
• I really hate this one:
Countless layers to this conversation, and one we'll surely have through the long winter, but that sack's not the fault of fill-in left tackle Calvin Anderson. It's Russell Wilson running right into the damned thing, Kenny Pickett-style.
Nothing, nothing, nothing has held back this offense like Wilson holding onto the ball forever and, on top of that, fooling himself into thinking he's still younger and can escape such scenarios.
He can't. Justin Fields can.
My feeling at the time that Tomlin replaced Fields with Wilson -- and childishly boasted about his decision after Wilson's impressive debut, "That's why I'm well compensated" -- was that Fields' trajectory was terrific. As Fields and I discussed briefly after this game, he'd already checked so many boxes that he feel confident about where he was headed ... the plug was pulled.
Don't let that one go because Wilson had a handful of strong starts. If the only thing that this season had brought to the Steelers was a long-term starting quarterback, it could've been seen as a small success.
Now, who knows what's next?
• Early second quarter. Third-and-2. Wilson throws short to Pat Freiermuth, who's stopped no more than two inches shy of a first down at the Pittsburgh 28.
Summon Fields for a fourth-down try?
Ram Najee Harris through there?
Get clever, as the Ravens have with the unstoppable direct snaps to tight end Mark Andrews?
Nah, just punt to the NFL's No. 1 offense, which hadn't come close to being stopped to that stage, and put that already exhausted defense right back on the field, only to have Jackson and the Ravens storm 85 yards for another touchdown.
Something about living in one's fears, I presume.
• Personal favorite saved for last:
Six minutes to go. Fourth-and-15 in Baltimore territory. Kinda obvious what's needed. No time to get crafty.
So Freiermuth sits, and Connor Heyward's in.
Mike Williams sits, and Van Jefferson's in.
And Wilson's desperation heave toward the end zone targets not Williams, not George Pickens, but a 5-7, 161-pound Austin engulfed in triple-coverage.
Why have practices or playbooks at all?
____________________
Make the change.
As in, make the change.
So much change is needed, and I say that independent of a parallel conversation that's got to be had about rebuilding vs. reloading vs. playing for Cam/T.J. vs. plotting a path toward the franchise quarterback that's pretty much a must for anyone to make it to the Super Bowl.
No change will suffice without one at head coach.
It doesn't need to be disrespectful. It sure doesn't need to be some unceremonious dumping. It can be Art Rooney II and Tomlin having the ultimate heart-to-heart and attempting to work out what's best for both parties, possibly with the Steelers reaping a first-round draft pick in the process and Tomlin, should he choose, finding a fresh start I'm figuring he could use, too.
Whatever the case, rearranging all the chairs again won't cut it.
In this game alone, Arthur Smith might not have burned as many boats as he'd have liked, but he at least fulfilled his pledge to stop doing some stuff that wasn't working -- no stupid pitchouts! -- but he'd still be held back by Tomlin's undying preference for Harris over Jaylen Warren and, for that matter, Wilson over Fields.
Remember how, when Tomlin was reminding us about his pay scale, he also acknowledged that his choice of Wilson was far from a consensus among his coaches?
Mm-hm.
Rooney can't continue, every January in his annual meeting with reporters, to put forth statements like this one from a year ago about winning in the playoffs: "There's an urgency. I think everybody, myself, Mike, guys that have been on the team for a while ... everybody, we've had enough of this. It's time to get some wins. It's time to take these next steps."
He has to know what the next step is.
No way he's not tired of this, too.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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