The Steelers’ playoff hopes dwindled further with a 30-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday, and head coach Mike Tomlin shouldered the blame for Pittsburgh’s recent poor run of form.
“Let’s be honest. We’re a fundamentally poor football group right now,” Tomlin said, according to NFL.com’s Bobby Kownack. “We’re playing losing football. I take responsibility for that. By losing football, I mean we’re just not doing fundamental things well enough. We’re not. We’re turning the ball over. We’re highly penalized. We don’t play good in situations. So, I’m just acknowledging that.”
Pittsburgh dropped to 7-7 after losing its fourth game in the last five weeks.
Despite firing much-maligned offensive coordinator Matt Canada a month ago, the Steelers’ offense has remained one of the NFL’s worst. Pittsburgh averaged just 12.75 points in its four recent defeats and scored just one offensive touchdown against the Colts.
Tomlin acknowledged that he still isn’t sure how to get the AFC North club back on track.
“I don’t necessarily have the answers as we sit here today,” the coach said. “If I had the answers, we would’ve played differently today.”
The Steelers’ odds of making the postseason dropped to 10% with the loss to the Colts and the Cincinnati Bengals’ overtime win over the Minnesota Vikings earlier Saturday, according to The New York Times’ playoff simulator. Their chances could drop as low as 4% if other AFC contenders, notably the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills, win Sunday.
Tomlin – who has never had a losing season in his 17 years in charge of Pittsburgh – promised that “everything’s on the table” regarding changes to save the team’s campaign.
