Crash and Burn

The Steelers entered the home stretch at 6-5 and looked as though they were going to slip their way into the playoffs.  They had one more game to go before Big Ben was returning and then the schedule lightened up slightly after that with three of their final four games at home. 

The black and gold controlled their own destiny. What they did with it was disappointing and shocking.  At 6-5 a road visit to the Ravens with Charlie Batch at the helm appeared to be the scariest game left on the schedule. Little did we know that would be their final win to date as Charlie and company went into Baltimore and took care of business. Batch had a big day, the defense played great and the team looked like they were back on track.

Big Ben returned the following week to play the lowly Chargers and the Steelers flopped. They came out flat, Ben looked off, mistakes were made left and right and a furious comeback at the end did nothing other than make the score and game look closer than it really was.  Still, at 7-6, they were in playoff contention and sitting in the final spot.

 A trip to Dallas ensued and the Steelers again made costly mistakes, most notably an awful interception by Big Ben in overtime that cost the team the game.  It wasn’t easy to watch, but the game was rather meaningless in that even at 7-7 the Steelers STILL controlled their destiny and all they had to do was win out at home vs. the Bengals and Browns.  Pittsburgh even had a shot at winning the division if they won out and Baltimore faltered.  Yet, once again, they failed, at home, against the Bengals, the little brother of the division. The Defense stepped up only allowing 6 points but two Big Ben picks, leading to 10 points (One TD Was returned for a TD) was the difference.  It not only knocked our beloved black and gold under .500, it knocked them from the playoffs.

So what happened in the last 4 weeks? Where did things go wrong? There are plenty of fingers to point and no one player or coach is responsible. It’s a collective effort.  First, the offense was wildly inconsistent when Big Ben returned.  He wasn’t the same guy and he uncharacteristically threw picks at the end of the Cowboy and Charger game, effectively ending those games and the season along with it. That’s not what we’ve become accustomed to seeing out of him, it was just one of those things that happened and I don’t anticipate it being an issue in the coming years. 

Secondly on the offensive side of the ball, Todd Haley and Mike Tomlin failed to ever commit to a feature running back.  It was laughable. They used 3 and even 4 backs in a game, often never giving a guy more than about 10 carries in a game. They publicly stated Dwyer was their starter, but apparently that meant nothing more than he would physically start the game, he was never given starter carries.  I’ve said it all season long, it’s hard to win when you don’t get one back the bulk of the carries.  Sure, the days of guys getting 30 or 35 carries in a game are over, but there is no reason they couldn’t hand Dwyer the ball 20 times a game. He showed us all early this season that he can rush for 100 yards in a game if given the chance.  For whatever reason, he, nor any other back, was ever given the chance. 

Another issue was the overall play calling by Todd Haley. His offense was designed to protect Roethlisberger, hence a lot of the quick throws or the “dink and dunk” as Big Ben called it. However, they didn’t take the appropriate chances down the field the last few weeks, only a couple a game. When they tried it, Big Plays did happen. See Mike Wallace in the Charger game or Antonio Brown in the Bengal game. The big plays worked but were not called often enough.  The running game, as mentioned prior, was not utilized properly and Haley needs to really look at his schemes moving forward. Big Ben questioned the play calling after the Dallas game and was given a lot of grief for it. Tomlin called it natural frustration after a loss. I don’t care what it was, Ben was right. The play calling was a big factor down the stretch and clearly didn’t work.

A fourth issue was injuries. In the last four weeks we’ve seen Willie Colon go down for the year (again), Ike Taylor, Heath Miller (in their last meaningful game) and other role players as well.  The offensive line was in flux over that stretch and there was no consistency when it was needed most. Injuries happen, but you need to overcome them.  This team lacks the depth to do so and it was very apparent down this home stretch.

The coaching staff truly failed to have this team prepared for these stretch games as well.  I’ve never, in all my years of following this team heard a player come out and say they had a feeling they were in trouble that week, after they lost at home. However, that’s exactly what Brett Keisel said after the Charger loss. He felt something wasn’t right and they were in trouble.  That tells me something certainly isn’t right, and that’s the coaching. There is no way that professional football players should feel that way, especially veteran players like Keisel who have been to 3 Super Bowls and won 2.  Have you ever seen a Steeler team fail in the clutch the way they did this year? Did you really think they would lose at home to Cincinnati with the season on the line? Never in a million years did I see that coming.  That’s preparation, or lack thereof. That starts at the top again. Tomlin and his staff failed this team down the stretch and it showed on the field with both mental and physical mistakes. The hunger wasn’t there, the desire wasn’t there and certainly the leadership wasn’t there.

Troy Polamalu came out recently and said he hopes this experience of missing the playoff humbles both the young guys and the vets too. He hopes it shows them all that making the playoffs and having success is no given thing, even if you’re on the Steelers. He’s right, and I hope what he says resonates with some of these guys.  If the soft spoken Troy Polamalu is speaking up and speaking out with these words, you know something is horribly wrong in that locker room.

The last month of 1-3 football has been frustrating, shocking and disappointing. The players failed to play and the coaches failed to coach.  They now have one final meaningless game against the lowly Browns to try to reach a .500 record. Big Ben stated he never wanted to have a year under .500 so he’s coming out swinging but in the end it doesn’t matter. They’re playing for draft position now as they certainly aren’t playing for anything else, unlike years past. This season crashed and burned and it took the stairway to seven right along with it.