Quarterback Russell Wilson suffered his first loss as a starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 12. Head coach Mike Tomlin, who remained winless in road divisional matchups on Thursdays, is receiving a lot of blame for the defeat.
But even after the loss to the 3-8 Cleveland Browns, Wilson appears to have nothing but confidence in his head coach.
In his Instagram story late on November 25, Wilson sent a 3-word message as a caption to a picture of himself high-fiving Tomlin.
“WE built differently.”
The picture suggests the “we” Wilson is referring to is Tomlin and himself. But Wilson could have meant the entire Steelers organization. The quarterback tagged the official Steelers account on Instagram in the post.
One could also interpret Wilson’s Instagram story as a message to Tomlin. Wilson tagged Tomlin’s official account on Instagram in the story too.
Russell Wilson Shouts Out Mike Tomlin on Instagram
Whether a note on or to Tomlin, the implications of Wilson’s message in his Instagram story is largely the same. It appears he strongly believes the Steelers will bounce back from their 24-19 loss to the Browns in Week 12.
The Steelers led for two brief periods in the Thursday night matchup. But at one point, the Browns led by 12.
The loss dropped the Steelers to a full game behind the Buffalo Bills and two contests back of the Kansas City Chiefs in the hunt for the top AFC seed. The Steelers also now only have a half-game lead over the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North.
Losing to Cleveland could be even more costly with who the Steelers have coming up on the schedule. First, they will face the Cincinnati Bengals and the Browns in a rematch at Acruisure Stadium.
But the Steelers will then square off versus three Super Bowl contenders in consecutive weeks — the Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens and Chiefs.
Wilson and the Steelers will have plenty of opportunities to prove they are indeed “built differently.”
Tomlin Facing Severe Criticism After Browns Loss
As great of a record Tomlin has, there’s a popular narrative around the head coach that his teams play down to competition. The Steelers did little to dispel that narrative during Week 12.
Furthermore, Tomlin struggles on short weeks when facing division opponents on the road. Tomlin is 0-6 in his career in such situations (facing AFC North teams away on Thursday Night Football).
Many pundits criticized the Steelers head coach before and after the Week 12 loss because of that record.
“I think hands down, it was coaching,” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo said on 93.7 The Fan the day after the game. “I’m sure we’re gonna get into some of the personnel decisions and some of those fourth down calls, but I thought overall, Mike Tomlin showed the Browns a lack of respect early in the game.”
During the defeat to the Browns, Steelers pundits and fans were critical of several decisions Tomlin made. Some of the most popular topics were his time management and the usage of backup quarterback Justin Fields.
“Somebody post a list of what Tomlin did wrong,” tweeted sports radio personality Mark Madden. “I’ve lost track.”
It’s very likely that Wilson has heard or seen some of these criticisms. So he fittingly took to Instagram to voice the confidence he still has in his head coach and team.
