The Pittsburgh Steelers closed out the 2024 regular season with a shocking four-game losing streak. Many fans expected the team to struggle during the condensed three-game in 10-day schedule, but few anticipated they would lose all three of those games and their final game against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals game was especially frustrating because so many confusing coaching decisions were made.
On Randy Baumann and the DVE Morning Show on 102.5 WDVE, host Randy Baumann asked former Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch about the offensive 180. Baumann said he interpreted Tomlin's answer to mean they didn't want to give Russell Wilson a chance to turn the ball over and wondered if the former Super Bowl winner saw it the same way.
"Yeah, I do," admitted Batch. "And this is one of those ones where you hear Coach Tomlin over the years, and he says, 'We don't live in our fears,' but yet you did in this particular case because you've now came out in run heavy type of offense and you're like, 'What the heck?' And if we're all predicting that it's going to be run on first down, then the Bengals were doing the exact same thing. So trying to pick up three yards, three yards and then all of a sudden being third and short situation that was something that really did baffle me throughout the game."
The Steelers lost the turnover battle in those games, and Wilson played a part. He both threw an interception and lost a fumble in the losses to the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers did not need the win over the Bengals to make it into the postseason, so some have speculated that Tomlin just took a very conservative approach to playing the game.
Most fans were hoping for some momentum going into the Wild Card game against the Ravens, and this loss has them panicking and assuming the Steelers have zero chance of finally winning a postseason game.
Did Steelers' Mike Tomlin Lose Confidence In Russell Wilson?
Baumann asked Batch if that change in the game plan, despite winning the first time, signaled a loss of confidence in Wilson. He said he doesn't think that he lost confidence. He believes that Tomlin felt they could win with defense and by controlling the line of scrimmage, and then it did not go as expected.
Batch said that coaches spend a lot of time leading up to the game developing their plan, and the Steelers likely considered the weather a significant factor. They already lost one game to the abysmal Cleveland Browns in part because of the snow. When they first started planning, they were calling for extreme cold, snow, and wind, but ultimately, it wasn't as much of a factor.
When they realized that the weather wouldn't be as significant, according to Batch, it was too late to change their whole plan. That led to the results we saw, which were Cincinnati controlling the line of scrimmage and the time of possession. Batch said he expected the defense to crumble considering the offense had so many three-and-outs, but he applauded the Steelers for holding them to only 19 points, something few other teams have been able to do.
