Steelers Losing Mentality Needs to Disappear

The Pittsburgh Steelers aren't winners right now.

Oct 6, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin looks on against the Dallas Cowboys during the third quarter at Acrisure Stadium. Dallas won 20-17. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of mediocre is "of moderate or low quality, value, ability, or performance". You could also take those nine words and simply replace them with two: Pittsburgh Steelers.

Sunday night's weather delayed loss to the Dallas Cowboys ended minutes before 1 A.M. after starting about an hour and 20 minutes later than scheduled. The game opened with the Cowboys marching down the field only to kick a field goal on the opening drive. It ended with quarterback Dak Prescott leading a 70-yard touchdown drive that culminated with a 4th-and-goal touchdown pass.

Everything that happened in between truly told the whole story: A once undefeated football team may be showing their true colors as the season's first quarter has passed them by.

There is so much to unpack but one overarching theme continues to come up and it has been as prevalent as ever over the past two weeks. The Steelers employ a losing mentality, even when they do win, and it starts with their head coach and trickles down the roster.

Stop me if you've heard these phrases before.

"No losing seasons."

"The standard is the standard."

"Mike Tomlin gets the most out of his players."

There are many more and I'm sure as you're reading this you'll float them through your head. There is no doubt that Mike Tomlin is a good enough football coach to lead his team to the playoffs but recently around here, that is quite literally the ceiling for the Steelers. They don't win playoff games anymore. They certainly haven't won a game comfortably in a long time. This is how Tomlin wants things to be.

The Cowboys came into the game desperate after starting the season 0-2 at home and 2-2 overall. The Steelers sat fairly comfortable at 3-1 but were coming off a loss to the Indianapolis Colts and backup quarterback - and noted Steelers torturer - Joe Flacco. However, the complacent team was the one that came up short in this one.

Complacency can be used to described the Steelers' approach to things the past few seasons when you consider that Tomlin might have the highest job security of anyone in football and he knows. It's no secret that it would take an earth-shattering catastrophe for the Steelers to even think about changing their head coach.

I want to preface the rest of this column by pointing out that this isn't a pro-Tomlin or anti-Tomlin endorsement. But it's merely an observation of watching this football team every week for the majority of Tomlin overseeing the Steelers.

Sep 15, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin yells at down judge Dana McKenzie (8) in the second quarter against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

This Steelers defense is seen as one of the leagues' best and they showed that in the first three weeks. However, these past two lasses have been just as much on them as it has been the offense.

Surely, Justin Fields played his worst game in a Steelers uniform on Sunday night. They put up 17 points off of three turnovers and a blocked field goal. There were shades of Matt Canada's offense all over that unit in this game. However, when it mattered most, the Steelers couldn't get a stop in their own building on the final drive of the game.

Teryl Austin has been given a lot of star players that are getting paid a lot of money. Are we really convinced he's that good at his job? This is a Tomlin-hire and he's stuck by him so far but the jury is still out on him in my mind. The noise around him has been radio silent because the focus is always on the coordinator on the other side of the ball.

This unit was gashed in the run-game all night long by Uncle Rico Dowdle and the ghost of Zeke Eliiott? Come on, man. This team simply can't be taken seriously if things like this continue to happen.

We haven't even begun to talk about the offense.

The early returns on Arthur Smith have been very muddled. There are certainly parts of the offense that are better than last season but that wasn't a hard bar to clear. However, utilizing Najee Harris to run outside the tackles like he is prime Chris Johnson or putting practice squad players in the backfield on 3rd-and-long and expecting any positive result is insane. This falls on both Tomlin and Smith.

The way the Steelers play offense, I'm not sure if it matters whether Justin Fields, Russell Wilson, or Tom Brady is the signal-caller. Asking the quarterback to "not turn the ball over" instead of taking the training wheels off and letting him throw the ball around the yard for the umpteenth year in a row is a losers mentality.

You can't keep putting your eggs in the basket of an underachieving defense and expecting the offense to win games by scoring 17 points. It is maddening.

George Pickens was effectively benched. Van Jefferson, Calvin Austin, and Scotty Miller wouldn't strike fear in Western PA's worst high school defense. The fact that the Steelers were okay lugging this group of receivers into the season comes from people even higher than Tomlin.

We're looking at you Omar Khan.

Oct 2, 2022; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan looks on before the Steelers play the New York Jets at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

And if I may, I'd like to point out the clock management - or lack-thereof - from Tomlin the past two weeks. We all remember the debacle of Tomlin essentially leaving a timeout in his back pocket last weekend despite his quarterback willing his team back into the game only to have his head coach fail him in the end.

This week, Tomlin gave away timeouts like they were Halloween candy. When the offense went back on the field, Tomlin left them no chance to stop the clock and effectively no chance to win the game without a miracle.

The conservative style can work in certain situations but to use it as your primary tactic comes off very loser-like and it's why the Steelers toil in the land of mediocrity year-over-year. They aren't built to come back from deficits and this style of play will find you in deficits more often than not.

What started as a promising 3-0 start has the Steelers staring down .500 next week if they drop another game they'll likely be favored in. In all reality though, wouldn't that .500 record fit the narrative and "The Standard" so perfectly?

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