Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin will often start his press conferences with “good afternoon.” But after losing 29-10 to the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas, Tomlin wasn’t having a good afternoon.
So, the Steelers head coach began his Week 17 postgame press conference with a summary that many fans will likely use at their own holiday dinner tables.
“You know that sucked, to be blunt,” said Tomlin.
The Steelers started slowly again in Week 17, allowing the Chiefs to score 13 points in the first quarter. Tomlin’s team steadied themselves in the second quarter, but just like on December 21 versus the Baltimore Ravens, things fell apart for Pittsburgh during the fourth quarter.
“Not the type of ball that we want to play, and eerily similar to our last performance in that we aren’t doing the fundamental things well enough. We’re turning the ball over, we’re not getting turnovers. That hadn’t been a recipe for us, but it has been [as] of late.”
The Steelers have now lost three consecutive games to drop to 10-6. All three losses were by double digits.
Tomlin’s squad will fall out of first place in the AFC North if the Ravens defeat the Houston Texans on Christmas evening.
Mike Tomlin Answers Whether Steelers Have Regressed
Responding to media questions is never easy. It’s more difficult on a losing streak.
The Steelers have lost three in a row since starting the regular season 10-3.
Those three games took place in a span of 11 days against teams with a combined 37-9 record. That’s a tough stretch for any team. But the Steelers also never led in any of those games. That’s not a good sign that Tomlin’s team is a real Super Bowl contender.
If that’s the case, the question becomes whether the Steelers have been a pretender all along or if they are playing worse. Or it could be a little of both.
“You could say that if you so choose,” Tomlin said when asked if his team has regressed. “But I just tend to look at performances and what we’re doing and what we’re not doing.
“We’ve regressed in terms of our turnover culture. In terms of maintaining possession of the ball and getting the ball. We’ve been a plus group in most instances and that’s really been a catalyst for us.”
The Steelers entered Week 17 with a plus-17 turnover margin, which was ranked second-best in the NFL. But over the past two games, they have posted a minus-3 turnover differential.
Against the Chiefs, the Steelers turned the ball over twice and didn’t registered a takeaway.
Steelers Collapsing in December Again?
Tomlin made reference to the Chiefs loss being similar to the Week 16 defeat to the Ravens. But with the regular season about to close, the 2024 campaign for the Steelers is now beginning to mirror prior disappointing years under Tomlin.
Although the Steelers ended the 2023 season on a 3-game winning streak, they also suffered a 3-game losing streak in December last year. They lost three straight in December during the 2019 and 2020 seasons too.
In 2018, the Steelers lost their last game in November and then their first two contests in December.
While the schedule could be to blame for the 2024 December losing streak, again, the Steelers haven’t been competitive the past three weeks. In fact, opponents have outscored the Steelers by 50 points in the past three games.
As a result, the Steelers are in the midst of their first 3-game losing streak where each loss was by double digits since 1988.
Given those facts, it’s understandable why Tomlin gave the “blunt” summary of Week 17 that he did.
