CLEVELAND, OH – The coach is changing quarterbacks once more. He fired his offensive coordinator some weeks ago, but his club has yet to respond. So the new strategy is to start an old backup, despite the fact that this offensive has already failed with the injured starter and his backup.
Welcome to December in… Pittsburgh, where the Steelers may be experiencing their darkest winter under Mike Tomlin’s leadership. Pittsburgh has won 35 of its previous 51 games in December and January heading into this season. However, they have now lost three consecutive games against three beatable teams (the 3-11 Cardinals, the 3-11 Patriots, and the 8-6 Colts with a backup QB). And, in Tomlin’s judgment, the mistakes that have harmed Pittsburgh should have been remedied months ago.
“We haven’t developed in some ways that we would like to,” Tomlin said Monday. “Fundamentally poor might be an exaggeration, but it also in some ways is accurate. There’s December levels of execution, and there’s September levels of execution. Five penalties from (an offense) is September-like, to be quite honest with you.” That’s gonna slow you down in December when you’re trying to (engineer drives) and keep pace and score and do the things that you’re engineering victory this time of year.”
Sound familiar, Browns fans? For most of Tomlin’s career, Cleveland has been the premiere home to out-of-season penalties. December games have rarely held weight, unless you account for draft position. And the Browns’ history of interim coordinators and last-gasp starting quarterbacks runs as deep — if not deeper — than Tomlin’s winning tradition.
But entering this holiday season, Tomlin’s Steelers can’t stop beating themselves. The Browns keep beating the odds by winning with a battered roster. And with four weeks until the playoffs, it feels like Cleveland and Pittsburgh have traded places in the AFC North culture wars.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski has stolen Tomlin’s mojo by winning with four starting quarterbacks, all of whom have orchestrated game-winning drives this season. Remember how the Steelers celebrated their 8-8 finish during a 2019 season where Devlin “Duck” Hodges started six games?
Cleveland could clinch a postseason berth this weekend if 38-year-old Joe Flacco, who has thrown more touchdown passes in 12 quarters (seven) than Kenny Pickett has thrown in 12 starts (six), guides Cleveland to a third straight December win on Sunday.
The Steelers’ defense, so long a bastion of their success, now ranks behind Cleveland’s in EPA per play, yards allowed per play, opponent success rate and takeaways, to name a few categories. Pittsburgh still owns a slight edge in scoring defense — 20 points per game allowed compared to 20.6 — but each empty offensive possession stretches the defense’s stamina. Pittsburgh ranks 25th in time of possession percentage and 29th in first downs per game, leaving players like Cam Heyward to defend his own offense in the media.
“As much as the defense is out there, there’s always a chance to make a play,” Heyward said after Pittsburgh’s 13-10 loss to Cleveland in November. “The offense is gonna go through their struggles. The defense will go through their struggles. I think it’s selfish to say, ‘oh man, we’re doing it all on defense. The offense needs to step up and do this.”
“It’s a team game. Find ways to score, find ways to stop them. When you have that mindset, I think that allows everybody to stay on the same page.”
So does winning, which has usually been Pittsburgh’s default setting this time of year. But now that Pittsburgh can’t trade on ugly victories, its struggles raise uglier questions.
Former Steelers Ben Roethlisberger and Ryan Clark have both wondered publicly if the Steelers are losing their winning tradition. Running back Najee Harris wondered earlier this season how long it could last with a faulty offense. And reporters wondered Monday if Pittsburgh’s offense, which has endured several in-house complaints this season, has a “maturity problem.”
“We’ve got dealing with adversity issues, and sometimes that can be characterized as maturity issues, certainly.” Tomlin said.
Tomlin’s answer sounds like a yes. His new problems sound like Cleveland’s old ones. And given Pittsburgh’s track record, the Steelers should sound closer to solving them.
But as the playoffs draw near, Tomlin’s team is missing its usual holiday spirit. The Steelers are making September plays in December. The Browns are using autumn’s free agents to beat winter’s opponents. And for the first time in several calendar flips, Pittsburgh — not Cleveland — is running out of solutions.
Tomlin is benching Mitch Trubisky for Mason Rudolph. He’ll shelve Rudolph once Kenny Pickett returns, just like he shelved Matt Canada a few weeks back. But Fifteen weeks into the season, the Steelers can only change so much before admitting the same truth Browns fans faced for decades:
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