Tim Benz: Steelers’ back-to-back losses made history, but we’ve seen this before
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It felt stupid, didn’t it? Tracking all those AFC games Sunday to see how they would impact the Steelers and the playoff standings.
What a fruitless endeavor after how the Steelers performed in their last two games, losing both at home against teams (the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots) who had a mere two wins apiece as they entered Acrisure Stadium.
How are we even thinking about the playoffs at a time like this? Especially now that these defeats have pushed the Steelers down to 7-6 and in third place in the AFC North.
But that’s what we do. It’s what we will do until the Steelers are mathematically eliminated — even if it feels like they are virtually eliminated at this point, having just lost what appears to be their two easiest games on the schedule.
“Obviously, this stings. But we’ll be back,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.
When Tomlin was asked why he was so confident, he said, “Because this is what we do, this is who we are.”
Tomlin may be more accurate in that statement than what he meant to be.
The record books tell us that those two Steelers losses actually made history for how bad they were.
Steelers become the first team over .500 to lose back-to-back games to teams 8+ games under .500 in NFL history ???? pic.twitter.com/xjT9sRZbai
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 8, 2023
But anyone in Pittsburgh who has tracked Tomlin’s career knows we’ve seen this act from his teams before.
Many times over.
This year’s roster is acting remarkably like the 2018 edition. That Steelers team got off to a 1-2-1 start. This year’s team started 2-2, with the two defeats totaling a 60-13 margin to the San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans.
That 2018 club then rattled off six straight wins in October and November to improve to 7-2-1 on Nov. 18. This year’s squad went 5-2 in the middle two months to improve to 7-4.
In both cases, the Steelers were in prime playoff position. For this year’s group, they had those two lay-up home games against the Cardinals and Patriots.
That year’s team was embarking on a three-game stretch against AFC West foes. It started with a 24-17 loss in Denver. The Broncos ended up 6-10. The next week featured a blown 16-point lead at home to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Related:
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• Late-season collapses not foreign to Steelers, coach Mike Tomlin
The cherry on the sundae was a 24-21 defeat absorbed in Oakland to a Raiders club that would wrap up the year 4-12.
Sound familiar?
The 2018 team would finish 9-6-1 and miss the playoffs by half a game. But that’s OK because they managed to avoid a losing season. And as the national media keeps telling us, the only thing that really matters in Pittsburgh is Tomlin’s career-long streak of never having a losing season.
Everything else is gravy. I mean, playoff wins? Pfft! Who needs those? Am I right, people?
Rich Eisen on Steelers fans wanting to get rid of Tomlin:
"If you want this to be the moment the Steelers finally get rid of Mike Tomlin, you are out of your frickin' minds.” #steelers
????@RichEisenShow pic.twitter.com/QiEYbTfGA8
— Matthew Luciow (@matthewluciow92) December 5, 2023
Because of intentionally obtuse water-carrying like that on behalf of Tomlin, it’s up to those of us in Pittsburgh who might be closer to the situation to remind everyone that this year’s fade by the Steelers isn’t an isolated incident.
Nor was it in 2018. The 2007 Steelers went from 9-3 to 10-6 and lost a first-round home playoff game. The 6-2 team in ‘09 tumbled to 9-7 and missed the playoffs. The 6-3 edition in 2012 spiraled and ended up 8-8, failing to qualify for the postseason.
In 2019, the Steelers managed to start 8-5, going 8-3 without Ben Roethlisberger, then collapsed the last three weeks and wound up 8-8, and stayed home for the playoffs. And how can we forget the 2020 team that started 11-0 but then lost five of its last six, including a home playoff loss to the Browns?
So, yeah, to Tomlin’s point, this is who the Steelers are. This is what they do.
And that’s not a good thing.
Now, to be fair, despite their early holiday season tailspin, Tomlin’s 2018 group still managed to upset the Patriots in Week 15 and won the regular season finale at home against the Cincinnati Bengals to keep their playoff hopes alive all the way through the end of their last game before the Ravens managed to take out the Browns to clinch the division a few minutes later.
Maybe these Steelers will do something similar. Maybe this time, they’ll sneak into the playoffs as a wild card. That way the national media can yammer away about Tomlin “keeping a steady hand on the rudder,” “keeping the train on the tracks,” “getting the car back on the road,” or whatever disaster-averting analogy they always tend to make after one of Tomlin’s teams (who also often start poorly) avoid a losing season.
Or maybe this time, some folks outside of Pittsburgh will finally understand that Tomlin was also the captain/engineer/driver when the boat/train/car swerved off course in the first place.