Mike Tomlin Explains Confusing Decision to Accept Late Penalty in Steelers' Loss

Pittsburgh might want this one back.

Tomlin and the Steelers lost 19–18 to the rival Browns on Thursday night. / Nick Cammett/Getty Images

Mike Tomlin made a couple of costly coaching decisions that came back to haunt the Pittsburgh Steelers in their 24–19 loss to the division rival Cleveland Browns on Thursday night at Huntington Bank Stadium.

On the first play after the two-minute warning, the Steelers—then leading 19–18—stopped the Browns on a third-and-2 from the 25-yard line. But a rare illegally touched pass penalty was called on Browns offensive lineman Ethan Pocic.

Instead of declining the penalty and forcing the Browns to either attempt a go-ahead field goal with 1:55 to play or go for it on fourth-and-2, Tomlin accepted the penalty. It backed up the Browns five yards but gave them another shot at a third down. Cleveland converted the third-and-7 try and scored the game-winning touchdown three plays later.

At first, Tomlin declined the penalty but ended up accepting it in a confusing moment on a snowy field in Cleveland.

"I thought it was an [intentional grounding penalty] initially. I couldn't hear the officials—I thought it was a grounding," Tomlin explained after the game. "When I realized it wasn't ruled a grounding, I got information from them and made the call that we wanted to make. The distance was more important to us. If it wasn't grounding, we wanted to move them five yards back. They were potentially kicking into the wind, and we wanted to stop them and make the field goal a longer one."

Coach Tomlin addresses the media following our game against the Browns: pic.twitter.com/QW6N6TeSNK

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 22, 2024

About a minute later, Tomlin was asked yet again about his decision on that penalty and he doubled down with his answer.

"I wanted to back them up to make it a more problematic kick for them based on the conditions with them kicking into the wind," he said.

Tomlin might want that one back as his team heads into another AFC North test in Week 13 against the Cincinnati Bengals next Sunday.

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