Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, in the midst of his nineteenth season main the staff, has famously by no means completed with a file underneath .500.
However on Sunday, in the course of the Steelers’ 26-7 loss to the Buffalo Payments, Pittsburgh followers had been heard chanting for Tomlin to be fired, anyway. The staff fell to 6-6 with the listless defeat, threatening each its playoff hopes and Tomlin’s non-losing season streak.
“I share their frustration tonight,” Tomlin stated when he was requested concerning the chants. “We didn’t do sufficient. That’s simply the fact of it.”
The primary perpetrator for Pittsburgh’s loss was its moribund offense, which managed to realize solely 166 complete yards. It was chargeable for solely seven factors, the identical because the Payments’ protection, which scored on a fumble return for a landing of its personal.
The pinnacle of the Steelers’ assault — or lack of 1 — is 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers, who seemed each bit his age Sunday. Rodgers accomplished solely 10 of 21 passes for a 47.6% completion proportion with no touchdowns. He additionally coughed up the fumble that led to the Payments’ defensive rating.
The struggles continued a worrisome downward pattern for Rodgers.
After having began the season with a 4-1 file, he’s solely 2-4 in his final six begins. He additionally missed a recreation due to a fractured left wrist. Rodgers performed with the damage Sunday, carrying a forged on his wrist, although his efficiency recommended the staff might have been higher off sitting him one other week.
A season after the Steelers faltered down the stretch with Russell Wilson, Rodgers was presupposed to be the veteran quarterback who might be a stabilizing power. As a substitute, in some methods, he has been even worse this season than in his forgettable 2024 marketing campaign with the New York Jets.
Rodgers is averaging 189.6 yards per recreation passing, by far the bottom mark of his profession and the primary time he has averaged underneath 200 yards a recreation since he grew to become a full-time starter (excluding his four-play 2023 season, which ended with a torn Achilles). His QBR of 40.4 can also be on tempo to be a profession low.
Requested concerning the poor exhibiting after the sport, Rodgers no less than partially deflected a number of the blame.
“When there’s movie periods, everybody reveals up. After I test to a route, run the correct route,” Rodgers stated when he was requested the way to revive the passing recreation.
He was defensive of Tomlin, nonetheless, saying he wouldn’t “go down that highway” when he was requested whether or not teaching performed a task within the loss.
“I consider within the teaching workers. I consider in Mike Tomlin,” Rodgers stated. “That’s why I got here right here. And gamers must take accountability, myself included, and I’ll proceed to.”
Within the meantime, the stress is popping up in Pittsburgh.
The Steelers began the season 4-1 however have misplaced 5 of their final seven video games. After having led the AFC North, Pittsburgh has allowed the as soon as 1-5 Baltimore Ravens to catch it within the standings. The loss to Buffalo additionally dropped the Steelers two video games behind the ultimate playoff spot within the convention.
So far as Tomlin’s job safety goes, there aren’t any stories of any sort of imminent firing. The followers’ impatience probably stretches far past solely what occurred Sunday, nonetheless, because the Steelers haven’t received a playoff recreation since 2016, and this 12 months’s staff has hardly resembled of late one that might break that streak.
Rodgers was presupposed to be the quarterback who settled down the franchise. As a substitute, at the same time as he has prevented any off-field drama this season, he has introduced extra angst to a staff that now desperately wants a powerful end to the season.
