The Steelers were once 1/9 odds-on favorites to win the AFC North, but all of a sudden, the Ravens are in the driver’s seat, and they’re on the outside looking in as far as at the playoffs are concerned.
If Baltimore beats Cleveland, Pittsburgh will not only lose the division title, but it will miss the playoffs altogether, which would be a huge failure for its 2018 campaign, especially with quarterback Ben Roethsliberger’s retirement drawing closer.
The Steelers have suffered some brutal losses this season, and it’s hard to imagine how they managed to lose to the Raiders and Broncos. Last-season losses to the Chargers and Saints didn’t help matters either. Nearly all of those games have one thing in common: The Steelers beat themselves with costly mistakes late in the contest.
And former Steelers linebacker James Harrison seems to believe that’s head coach Mike Tomlin’s fault, as he recently stated on ESPN’s “The Undisputed.”
“I would have to give that to Mike Tomlin, and the reason I give it to him because he’s the head coach,” Harrison said, as transcribed by Steelers Depot. “He has to go out there and get this team ready. You’ve had instances where the defense plays well, you’ve had an instances where the offense plays well and you know that they’re capable of doing that.”
He continued:
“If you look at the defense that he’s actually built, I think he has six or seven first-rounders, he has a couple of second-rounders through either draft or trade, so he’s put together a defense that should be capable of going out there and stopping offenses,” he said. “And I think at the end of it the Achilles heel has been the defense not able to come through in the end. So, I have to put that on Mike Tomlin even though he has won a significant amount of games, he’s won a Super Bowl.”
The players clearly deserve a portion of the blame as well, but Harrison didn’t mention them because he seems to have a bone to pick with his former coach. The Steelers have lost four of their last five games, and it’s not all about coaching. Poor execution has played a role as well.
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