“We earned the opportunity to go to the postseason. It sucks that we lost these last four games, but we earned that right, wrapped it up earlier in the year. Obviously, we wish things went differently the last four games, but the ultimate goal is to win the Super Bowl, and we put ourselves in the right step to get in that direction by making the playoffs.”
Don't laugh.
That was Pat Freiermuth, this after the Steelers' latest loss, 19-17 to the Bengals on this snowy, sniffling and ultimately stomach-turning Saturday night at Acrisure Stadium, and he was correct in every sense. They really did earn the playoffs, having clinched earlier than most, and they're really still presented with at least a possibility, a pathway to push through.
Yeah, uh ... so I guess now it's OK to laugh.
Look, here's the real problem: There are too many problems to cite, much less solve, in the week between now and flying to either Baltimore or Houston. The offense has disintegrated to a Matt Canada level, the defense has dynamic moments but remains visibly disorganized, and even the not-so-long-ago-lauded special teams are now leaking.
Way worse, there's an overarching problem, one that'd mitigate any progress made with any other problems: The coaching's been outright idiotic.
And for anyone who might be cringing at that language being too strong ...
____________________
No, I don't consider Mike Tomlin to be an idiot. That'd be ... not just insulting but insane. Nor do I feel that way about Arthur Smith, Teryl Austin or anyone else who answers to the man.
But there's a difference between being an idiot and doing idiotic things, as I'm comfortable confessing I live out in my own life far too often. And what's been witnessed over this past month -- but never more than in this game -- couldn't be spelled out with some softer word.
That's the truly great Joe Burrow throwing a touchdown to the truly great Ja'Marr Chase. And that's first-year corner Cory Trice being assigned to Chase early in what'd be a long evening, until, at long last, midway through the fourth quarter, someone thought to have Joey Porter Jr. follow Chase around. And even this occurred in the middle of the first series the Bengals operated without injured bookend Tee Higgins.
That's idiotic.
Let's stay with that one a moment: Dumb as it was to designate Trice to Chase duty, mostly without safety support -- remember, it's vital to keep Minkah Fitzpatrick roaming free for all those interceptions he isn't making -- pay particular attention to Cam Sutton blitzing Burrow. Then notice Trice turning around after the touchdown and raising his hands as if to ask where his help was. Then recall that one of the common recent internal criticisms of Sutton, though not by name, was that he was blitzing on his own and abandoning coverage ... yikes.
That reflects poorly on Austin and Tomlin no matter the explanation. Either they just wasted an entire week of practice emphasizing communication and positional responsibility ... or they really shouldn't be using Sutton over Beanie Bishop, anyway:
All the kid does is make plays. But Sutton was basically guaranteed starting duty by Tomlin after Sutton's NFL half-season suspension following an investigation into abusing his wife, and Tomlin's forever valued being able to show people, both inside and outside the team headquarters, that he's right.
Mike Williams hasn't been a kid for a few years, but all he does is make plays, as well, like this ballet-style beauty in the first half:
Mike Williams hasn’t shown up often for the Steelers this season, but when he does, he’s making an insanely impressive catch on the sideline. pic.twitter.com/ncPUAfzk3p
I found Williams afterward and shared my appreciation for his work on the catch, and it was only after he thanked me that it resonated with me that there's a reason I didn't have to specify which catch: It's because that was it. One catch, one target. Again.
This so that, presumably, they could script all those plays for Van Jefferson that emerged in the second half.
Idiotic.
Less than a minute remained in the first half, and the Steelers' offense, which had been barely budging, faced third-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 37. Russell Wilson was sent up the middle, and the offensive line showed no push and got no gain.
Easy call to punt, right?
It's fourth-and-1, a turnover on downs there pretty much puts three points on the board for the Bengals and, to repeat, the line showed no push.
Nope. Jaylen Warren, who's not the back generally used in these scenarios, was sent toward left guard, where none of the Steelers' best runs have gone in a month, and he was rammed for another nil.
Burrow takes his team into easy field-goal range, and the Bengals were up, 13-7, at the half.
"I like to be aggressive in those moments," Tomlin would attempt to explain later, even though there's no record of any such tendency in his tenure here. "If you can't get a yard, you don't deserve to win, and so obviously we didn't."
Huh?
So this was akin to some macho kind of training-camp competition? As opposed to offering the opponent what'd eventually be the exact margin of victory?
Idiotic.
So the second half starts, and because Tomlin had chosen after winning the coin flip to hand Burrow the ball -- and an opening-series touchdown, the kind his side's yet to accomplish through 17 games -- the Steelers open up this time with a fan favorite:
Everything about repeatedly handing Najee Harris the football on first down is senseless. Doing it via pitchout, at this stage, couldn't conceivably be interpreted as anything but Tomlin figuratively giving the finger at all the critics of this play. Same way he allowed Matt Canada to do sweep after sweep after sweep after sweep, no matter how often it'd get slaughtered. It was like they were going to show us who's boss.
The lack of first-down creativity is idiotic. The pitchouts are idiotic. Sticking by either of them, much less both, for the sheer sake of stubbornness is beyond idiotic. It's petulant. It's petty.
Can we stop here?
No?
So, midway through the fourth quarter, Bengals up by a dozen, and two mega-plays poke the place back to life -- Freirmuth's 19-yard touchdown, then Connor Heyward pouncing on a muffed punt at the Cincinnati 37.
Sorry, but teams that do stuff like that don't lose. Unless they're being hamstrung by some really stupid strings being pulled from above.
Harris had been hurt on a head-high collision two series earlier, so he wasn't available. And given how little Warren had been used to that point, including the three-incompletions-and-out series just beforehand, this seemed the perfect opportunity to ride the back Tomlin had appeared a week ago to hint might soon by his No. 1.
Now, see, if I were an Emmy winner scripting some sitcom and I were enjoying a wickedly funny kinda mood, I couldn't do better than to bring Cordarrelle Patterson off the sideline to make his first touch of the evening after two-plus hours in 13-degree chills ... except if I made it on a pitchout! And if I made it a 4-yard loss! And if, on third-and-15 of that same series, I stuck with Patterson as my blocking back even though Warren's my best blocking back, only to have Patterson get flagged for holding because he couldn't block!
Move over, Larry David!
Final possession comes with 1:51 on the clock. And out onto the field comes ... Harris. Who I watched staggering -- I mean, like stone-drunk staggering -- when he got hit. If he hadn't been concussed by any reasonable human standard, I've never seen anyone concussed.
A reporter would ask Tomlin, verbatim: Did you think it was prudent to bring Najee back when he was nicked up? Maybe could have brought in Jaylen?
"What is your question?" came Tomlin's snapback, even though he'd just been asked not one but two questions.
The reporter responded: Why did you bring Najee back?
"Because he was medically cleared to come back into the game."
Idiotic. The choice and the childish exchange on Tomlin's part.
First snap of that possession was a short pass to Harris that resulted in minus-2 yards. Still no Warren. There'd be pass attempts that'd follow, the kind that would've benefited from his best blocking back protecting Wilson, and there'd be a sack for a 5-yard loss.
Maybe Warren was hurt?
Nope. Our staff checked with him. Totally fine. Just didn't get used.
Idiotic.
The same offense, same quarterback who ran up 44 points and 500-plus yards on this same defense in Cincinnati emerged for this one hell-bent on running, for reasons that could only defy reason. Wilson very much had his own warts here, but he was permitted to throw only 12 times in the first half en route to a 17-for-31, 148-yard dud.
Why?
"If you're not converting possession downs and they are, it's going to get skewed," Tomlin replied to that. "They possessed the ball. We didn't. We didn't make enough routine plays. We were not in third-and-manageable."
Yep. The good old weighty-downs emphasis. Because even his explanations for failure have to reflect that he was right all along.
Which reminds: Why wouldn't Justin Fields get so much as a sniff with Wilson struggling, with the Bengals all over everything he was doing, and with this game being almost as important to the Steelers as Tomlin being right about things?
Did he ever, Tomlin was asked, consider turning to Fields?
"Not really, no," he'd begin, which was an odd, hedgy way to begin. "Because our failures were collective. I think at this juncture the most prudent thing for us to do was to stick with those that were on the field and work through it."
And demonstrate that he was right in choosing Wilson.
Idiotic priority. But I can't be convinced that isn't it.
____________________
So now what?
That's what I put to Porter:
"If we don't turn it around," he'd say, "we'll be going home."
Can't argue that.
But how to go about turning around what the coach only wants to turn around his way?
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THE ASYLUM
Dejan Kovacevic
9:07 am - 01.05.2025North ShoreDK: A clinic on idiotic coaching
“We earned the opportunity to go to the postseason. It sucks that we lost these last four games, but we earned that right, wrapped it up earlier in the year. Obviously, we wish things went differently the last four games, but the ultimate goal is to win the Super Bowl, and we put ourselves in the right step to get in that direction by making the playoffs.”
Don't laugh.
That was Pat Freiermuth, this after the Steelers' latest loss, 19-17 to the Bengals on this snowy, sniffling and ultimately stomach-turning Saturday night at Acrisure Stadium, and he was correct in every sense. They really did earn the playoffs, having clinched earlier than most, and they're really still presented with at least a possibility, a pathway to push through.
Yeah, uh ... so I guess now it's OK to laugh.
Look, here's the real problem: There are too many problems to cite, much less solve, in the week between now and flying to either Baltimore or Houston. The offense has disintegrated to a Matt Canada level, the defense has dynamic moments but remains visibly disorganized, and even the not-so-long-ago-lauded special teams are now leaking.
Way worse, there's an overarching problem, one that'd mitigate any progress made with any other problems: The coaching's been outright idiotic.
And for anyone who might be cringing at that language being too strong ...
____________________
No, I don't consider Mike Tomlin to be an idiot. That'd be ... not just insulting but insane. Nor do I feel that way about Arthur Smith, Teryl Austin or anyone else who answers to the man.
But there's a difference between being an idiot and doing idiotic things, as I'm comfortable confessing I live out in my own life far too often. And what's been witnessed over this past month -- but never more than in this game -- couldn't be spelled out with some softer word.
Watch:
That's the truly great Joe Burrow throwing a touchdown to the truly great Ja'Marr Chase. And that's first-year corner Cory Trice being assigned to Chase early in what'd be a long evening, until, at long last, midway through the fourth quarter, someone thought to have Joey Porter Jr. follow Chase around. And even this occurred in the middle of the first series the Bengals operated without injured bookend Tee Higgins.
That's idiotic.
Let's stay with that one a moment: Dumb as it was to designate Trice to Chase duty, mostly without safety support -- remember, it's vital to keep Minkah Fitzpatrick roaming free for all those interceptions he isn't making -- pay particular attention to Cam Sutton blitzing Burrow. Then notice Trice turning around after the touchdown and raising his hands as if to ask where his help was. Then recall that one of the common recent internal criticisms of Sutton, though not by name, was that he was blitzing on his own and abandoning coverage ... yikes.
That reflects poorly on Austin and Tomlin no matter the explanation. Either they just wasted an entire week of practice emphasizing communication and positional responsibility ... or they really shouldn't be using Sutton over Beanie Bishop, anyway:
All the kid does is make plays. But Sutton was basically guaranteed starting duty by Tomlin after Sutton's NFL half-season suspension following an investigation into abusing his wife, and Tomlin's forever valued being able to show people, both inside and outside the team headquarters, that he's right.
Mike Williams hasn't been a kid for a few years, but all he does is make plays, as well, like this ballet-style beauty in the first half:
I found Williams afterward and shared my appreciation for his work on the catch, and it was only after he thanked me that it resonated with me that there's a reason I didn't have to specify which catch: It's because that was it. One catch, one target. Again.
This so that, presumably, they could script all those plays for Van Jefferson that emerged in the second half.
Idiotic.
Less than a minute remained in the first half, and the Steelers' offense, which had been barely budging, faced third-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 37. Russell Wilson was sent up the middle, and the offensive line showed no push and got no gain.
Easy call to punt, right?
It's fourth-and-1, a turnover on downs there pretty much puts three points on the board for the Bengals and, to repeat, the line showed no push.
Nope. Jaylen Warren, who's not the back generally used in these scenarios, was sent toward left guard, where none of the Steelers' best runs have gone in a month, and he was rammed for another nil.
Burrow takes his team into easy field-goal range, and the Bengals were up, 13-7, at the half.
"I like to be aggressive in those moments," Tomlin would attempt to explain later, even though there's no record of any such tendency in his tenure here. "If you can't get a yard, you don't deserve to win, and so obviously we didn't."
Huh?
So this was akin to some macho kind of training-camp competition? As opposed to offering the opponent what'd eventually be the exact margin of victory?
Idiotic.
So the second half starts, and because Tomlin had chosen after winning the coin flip to hand Burrow the ball -- and an opening-series touchdown, the kind his side's yet to accomplish through 17 games -- the Steelers open up this time with a fan favorite:
Everything about repeatedly handing Najee Harris the football on first down is senseless. Doing it via pitchout, at this stage, couldn't conceivably be interpreted as anything but Tomlin figuratively giving the finger at all the critics of this play. Same way he allowed Matt Canada to do sweep after sweep after sweep after sweep, no matter how often it'd get slaughtered. It was like they were going to show us who's boss.
The lack of first-down creativity is idiotic. The pitchouts are idiotic. Sticking by either of them, much less both, for the sheer sake of stubbornness is beyond idiotic. It's petulant. It's petty.
Can we stop here?
No?
So, midway through the fourth quarter, Bengals up by a dozen, and two mega-plays poke the place back to life -- Freirmuth's 19-yard touchdown, then Connor Heyward pouncing on a muffed punt at the Cincinnati 37.
Electricity even through the whipping snow:
Sorry, but teams that do stuff like that don't lose. Unless they're being hamstrung by some really stupid strings being pulled from above.
Harris had been hurt on a head-high collision two series earlier, so he wasn't available. And given how little Warren had been used to that point, including the three-incompletions-and-out series just beforehand, this seemed the perfect opportunity to ride the back Tomlin had appeared a week ago to hint might soon by his No. 1.
Ummmm ...
Now, see, if I were an Emmy winner scripting some sitcom and I were enjoying a wickedly funny kinda mood, I couldn't do better than to bring Cordarrelle Patterson off the sideline to make his first touch of the evening after two-plus hours in 13-degree chills ... except if I made it on a pitchout! And if I made it a 4-yard loss! And if, on third-and-15 of that same series, I stuck with Patterson as my blocking back even though Warren's my best blocking back, only to have Patterson get flagged for holding because he couldn't block!
Move over, Larry David!
Final possession comes with 1:51 on the clock. And out onto the field comes ... Harris. Who I watched staggering -- I mean, like stone-drunk staggering -- when he got hit. If he hadn't been concussed by any reasonable human standard, I've never seen anyone concussed.
A reporter would ask Tomlin, verbatim: Did you think it was prudent to bring Najee back when he was nicked up? Maybe could have brought in Jaylen?
"What is your question?" came Tomlin's snapback, even though he'd just been asked not one but two questions.
The reporter responded: Why did you bring Najee back?
"Because he was medically cleared to come back into the game."
Idiotic. The choice and the childish exchange on Tomlin's part.
First snap of that possession was a short pass to Harris that resulted in minus-2 yards. Still no Warren. There'd be pass attempts that'd follow, the kind that would've benefited from his best blocking back protecting Wilson, and there'd be a sack for a 5-yard loss.
Maybe Warren was hurt?
Nope. Our staff checked with him. Totally fine. Just didn't get used.
Idiotic.
The same offense, same quarterback who ran up 44 points and 500-plus yards on this same defense in Cincinnati emerged for this one hell-bent on running, for reasons that could only defy reason. Wilson very much had his own warts here, but he was permitted to throw only 12 times in the first half en route to a 17-for-31, 148-yard dud.
Why?
"If you're not converting possession downs and they are, it's going to get skewed," Tomlin replied to that. "They possessed the ball. We didn't. We didn't make enough routine plays. We were not in third-and-manageable."
Yep. The good old weighty-downs emphasis. Because even his explanations for failure have to reflect that he was right all along.
Which reminds: Why wouldn't Justin Fields get so much as a sniff with Wilson struggling, with the Bengals all over everything he was doing, and with this game being almost as important to the Steelers as Tomlin being right about things?
Did he ever, Tomlin was asked, consider turning to Fields?
"Not really, no," he'd begin, which was an odd, hedgy way to begin. "Because our failures were collective. I think at this juncture the most prudent thing for us to do was to stick with those that were on the field and work through it."
And demonstrate that he was right in choosing Wilson.
Idiotic priority. But I can't be convinced that isn't it.
____________________
So now what?
That's what I put to Porter:
"If we don't turn it around," he'd say, "we'll be going home."
Can't argue that.
But how to go about turning around what the coach only wants to turn around his way?
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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