Resigning Tomlin & Year in Review
The Pittsburgh Steelers finished the 2023-2024 NFL Season with a record of 10-7, landing them at 3rd in the AFC North. The Steelers went 3-3 in the last 6 games of the season, a record which could have easily been 12-5 or 13-4 if the they beat the Cardinals and Patriots at home and the Colts no the road. That series of games ended with three measly Steelers performances in a row, mainly due to lackluster quarterback play, an injury riddled defense that got picked apart at the weakest points, and in ineffectiveness to create splash plays that turn the tides of games.
Every Steelers fan knows that the Steelers lose at least one game to an opponent that is far worse than them on paper and record wise. This can trace all the way back to the 2012 season but there are a few exceptions in 2019 (Duck Season) , 2020 (Covid year where three games where played in a two week span), and 2021 (Ben’s last season which was admirable). Unfortunately this occurred three times this past season, to make it worse it was three back to back to back loses. That three game streak proved to be the difference in our season and potentially having home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs at least.
For the first 11 weeks of the season every Steelers fan was calling for Canada to be fired. After an incredibly underwhelming two and a half year tenure as the Steelers OC it was almost inevitable that Canada would be dismissed eventually. Canada’s first year as the Steeler’s Offensive Coordinator was Ben’s last year which had an offense that was characterized by a relatively small playbook that cultivated lots of passes outside of the numbers and a relatively limited offense. Granted, a large reason for this type of play calling could’ve been due to Ben’s limited abilities two years after a bad elbow injury playing at the age of 39. His second year (Kenny’s rookie year) was never impressive. The Steelers pass game was never a threat nearly all season besides several splash plays. The run game slowly came on, significantly improving as the season progressed. In 2023, the Steelers offensive play calling was at an all time low. Consistently flat performances plagued Canada’s tenure with the Steelers.
At this point of the season fans were calling for Tomlin to be dismissed at the end of the season as well. The argument for his dismissal was the team’s lack of playoff success since 2017-2018 season, the thought that the team had become too stale and lacked a modern offense, for bringing back Canada for a second season (to be revisited), penalties that are typically due to an undisciplined team (most were on rookies and two year players), and the feeling of hitting rock bottom because of some bad loses during the season.
Blaming Tomlin almost seems like the easy way out. Sure Tomlin is to partially blame for all of the above reasons, but his importance to this team and franchise outweigh the faults of this team and franchise. He is the integral cog to a constantly moving machine. Not having any losing seasons is often used against him because of the standard that the Steelers and Steelers fans have. Many don’t care about it since we have not been to a Super Bowl since our loss to the Packers and haven’t been to an AFC title since our loss to the Patriots in the 2016-2017 season. Since the loss in the Divisional Round to the Jaguars in the 2017-2018 season, have the Steelers really had a shot to make a deep playoff run? Are the frustration with the lack of recent playoff success simply due to fans being frustrated we haven’t gone far and the easiest place to point is the head coach? The answers are “No” and “Yes”.
Let's broadly break down each season since the loss to the Jaguars in the 2018 Divisional Rond.
*It should be noted that the loss to the Jaguars can be summarized as an underwhelming performance by a mediocre, at best, Steelers defense (bad secondary, solid linebacking core that couldn’t play in coverage, and a good defensive line) coupled with a great performance from an explosive offense. All this against one of the best defenses in the league at the time, arguably Fournette’s best year of his career, and a solid game from Bortles (no turnovers). *
2018 - 2019: 9-6-1 (2nd AFC North)
Key Events: Le’Veon Bell sits out the entire season due to a contract dispute. The end of Antonio Brown with the Steelers and the negative attention that came with it
Strong Offense: James Connor first year as RB1. Even with the loss of Le’Veon the offense played relatively well.
Mediocre Defense: Strong defensive line and edge rushers, very weak secondary, very weak middle line backing core.
Key Losses: Week 1 tie against Brown (poor defensive performance & 3 interceptions throw by Ben), Week 16 loss to Saints (JuJu game losing fumble)
Conclusion: A year filled with internal drama, large holes in the defense, and the potential of having a top offense in the league before the Bell & Brown situation. Saints game ends up costing the Steelers playoff chances.
2019 - 2020: 8-8-0 (2nd AFC North)
Key Events: Ben’s career altering injury in week 2. Duck Hodges. Minkah’s first year. Tuitt plays 6 games.
Offense Survives: The magical Duck Hodges season. Ben goes down early, Mason follows suit, and Duck Hodges takes the reins, doing as well as he possibly could with the offense.
Defense Holds Up: The addition of Minkah was enormous. His impact was felt immediately. Still a large whole in the middle linebacking core (mainly down hill thumpers) and questionable play and depth from and in the rest of the secondary. Bud Dupree best season.
Key Losses: Ben Roethlisberger
Conclusion: This season was cursed from the beginning once Ben went down. The defense held up for the most part. Despite a playoff appearance, this season can be chalked up as a success, all things considered.
2020 - 2021: 12-4-0 (1st AFC North)
Key Events: 12-0 start. Covid schedule adjustments. Claypool’s impressive rookie year. Beginning of the end for Ben. Wildcard playoff loss to the browns. Devin Bush injury.
Offensive Explosion: The Steelers came out of the gates hot. Opposing defenses didn’t have an answer to Claypool’s incredible streak of games. Ben came back from the injury on fire, though there was a noticeable difference in the throws he was making.
Defense Solidifies: This years defense saw a noticeable difference from the year before. Momentum from the year prior carried through the first 12 games of the season. Devin Bush’s career changing ACL injury occurs in Week 6, one year removed from a stellar rookie year.
Key Loses: Washing Football Team, bengals, browns in the Wildcard Round (cursed start with the Pouncey mishap, a strong offensive performance, a good game from Mayfield that exploited our defensive weaknesses. Came at a time when momentum was against us).
Conclusion: One of the best starts to a Steelers season in the history of the team was severely impacted by a three game skid from Week 13 to Week 15. Due to Covid based schedule changes, with the Steelers plaing three games in a span of 14 days and four games in 3 weeks. This was the worst case scenario for this Steelers team as they suffered the consequences of other teams’ Covid related issues.
2021 - 2022: 9-7-1 (2nd AFC North)
Key Events: Ben’s final year. Year one of Canada. Najee and Pat’s rookie year. Tuitt retires.
Offense Survives: Ben’s final year was hard to watch at times. His throwing ability was clearly not on par with what we were used to during a large majority of Ben’s career. Mainly due to the bad elbow injury he sustained in his final three years. Canada’s play calling seemed to be appropriate for Ben’s capabilities at the time. This offensive unit was also incredibly young and inexperienced. Najee was a rookie, a rookie Kendrick Greene started at center, and the Dan Moore/Chuks duo assumed the starting tackle positions. Still an honorable year from the legend Number 7.
Defense Survives: This year’s defense was solid but gave up some big performances from the opposing offense. This can seemingly chalked up to poor performances and having bad days at the office.
Key Loses: Week 11 vs. Chargers, Week 14 vs. Vikings, Week 10 Tie vs. Lions
Conclusion: Ben’s last rodeo was a rough season that began a rough transition from the Hall of Fame Quarterback. Bringing in young talent to develop behind Ben was always a contentious topic between the Steelers brass and Ben himself. There was a clear difference in quarterback play with a lack of pieces around who make up enough for the decline in Ben’s play.
2022 - 2023: 9-8-0 (3rd AFC North)
Key Events: Kenny’s rookie year, Canada’s second year, great defensive play for the most part (great Minkah and Highsmith year, TJ injury). George Pickens rookie year. Jaylen Warren’s “Is he a guy?” moment.
Canadian Offense: Kenny didn’t play until half way through the fourth game of the season after poor performances from Mitch. Kenny showed the ability to survive as a starting quarterback, leading several game winning drives, but never having a stellar performance. George Pickens and Jaylen Warren come onto the scene. Questionable play calling and offensive gameplay becomes incredibly apparent. The middle of the field was almost never utilized on passing plays and there were very few great all around performances from the offense besides the run game coming together as the season progressed.
Solid Defense: Though TJ only played 10 games, we saw a career year from Minkah and Highsmith, as the defense struggled against the run at times but played well overall. The lack of great play from the middle line backer position continued since the end of Shazier’s career.
Key Loses: Week 2 vs. Patriots (Witherspoon mossed), Week 3 vs. browns, Week 4 vs. Jets, Week 5 vs. Miami (Game losing turnovers from Kenny)
Conclusion: Going into the session everyone expected some growing pains now that Ben was gone. Mitch came into the season in the hopes of being a serviceable bridge quarterback. Instead, his lack of impressive performances led to his benching. Kenny became QB1 and proved to be a serviceable starting quarterback. He never produced any impressive performances that you want to see out of a potential franchise quarterback but he also rarely turned the ball over (not taking risks, making the check down as a first read, and improvising plays prematurely). Ultimately, it was clear that the Steelers lacked the offensive fire power to be contenders.
2023 - 2024: 10-7-0 (3rd AFC North)
Key Events: Canada Fired, Kenny takes a step back, injury riddled defense, Jaylen Warren breakout season, key rookie contributions
Post Canada: Canada was dismissed after the Steelers hit, what we thought, was rock bottom against the browns in Week 11. Kenny had his worst performance to date, Canada simply couldn’t stay any longer, and changes were made. The following victory against the bengals resulted in the Steelers first 400 yard game since the 2021 season. This season brought glaring doubts about Kenny’s ability to be the franchise quarterback. His inability to have an excellent performance continued. His struggle with reading defenses, adjusting at the line, and making the right read in play continued. His lack of poise in the pocket and the ability to stand in a collapsing pocket continued. There are now a lot of questions around the future of the Steelers’ quarterback room. There was also very poor play from Mason Cole, resulting in the necessity of a franchise center for our next franchise quarterback.
Great Defense to Start: This years’ defense was one of the most solid defenses we have had on paper in more than half of a decade. A strong secondary consisting of Minkah, Kazee, JPJ, and the Pat P/Levi Wallace duo proved to be a solid group when healthy (and when Pat and Levi weren’t getting picked apart, Pat more than Levi). Our middle linebacking core was as strong as its been in years. Holcomb, E. Rob., and Kwon proved to be a solid, versatile MLB group that our team has been lacking for a while. The Steelers have lacked a solid middle line backer and a solid middle line backer group since Bush’s rookie year and Shazier’s last year. Our defensive line was solid with TJ, Cam, Larry O, Keanu, Highsmith. Dissapointing performances and a lack of improvement can characterize Demarvin Leal’s season. Though still a relatively young player, his development is key in assuring we have a smooth transition to a new interior defensive line core once Cam retires. Injuries ended up taking a toll on this defense losing 2/3 starting middle linebacker to season ending injuries, Minkah being in and out of the lineup for long periods of time, and Cam going on IR for a large part of the season. All things considered this defense started well and was able to still keep their head above the water due to key contributions from JPJ, Elandon Roberts, Trenton Thompson and Keanu Benton. The replacements for Holcomb and Kwon, mainly Mykal Walker, ended up giving up large, game altering plays. Several that proved to be the main differences in several losses.
Key Loses: Week 4 vs Houston, Week 11 vs. browns, Week 13 vs. Cardinals, Week 14 vs. Patriots, Week 15 vs. Colts
Conclusion: The future franchise quarterback is still yet to be found. The offensive line is solid but still a Center and potentially another Tackle away from where it needs to be. There are multiple weapons making up our skill position group with DJ, George, Pat, Jaylen, and Najee. Hopefully Calvin Austin can prove to have a more significant role next year. On paper, and when healthy, the defense is solid. More depth is needed at the corner back position and potentially a young middle line backer and strong safety.
Now these can easily be chalked up as excuse making for not realizing playoff success in each of those seasons. But these things matter and play an incredibly significant role in how the season progresses. The point being that Tomlin has kept this team competitive when things could have easily fallen apart. We could have easily become this years version of the Chargers for the past several years (lots of talent on paper but can’t execute and win games. Bad coach schemes as well).
Tomlin is a coach who players want to play for. Similar to how there are coaches who excel at brilliant scheming and play calling like Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, and Andy Reid, Coach Tomlin excels in certain categories that a lot of other coaches can’t compare too. He has an innate ability to connect with the players, motivate the players to strive for greatness, and most of all carries the torch that is the Steelers Tradition as the number of veteran Steeler players decreases. For the near future, this is an irreplaceable attribute that is key to creating the next great Steeler team.
This team is a quarterback and a few pieces away from being legitimate Super Bowl contenders. A new center is desperately needed, corner back depth is needed, young middle linebacker and safety talent is needed, and most importantly, a franchise quarterback is needed. Obviously, the franchise quarterback is the most coveted position in the NFL, something that is incredibly difficult to obtain, typically a feat that requires some luck when it comes to the draft.
We are not as far from being contenders than people think. We are still missing the most important role in the NFL, but with the loss of Tomlin we put ourselves in unfamiliar territory. That is not a place you want to be when trying to build and develop a team.
Here We Go Steelers!
More on the Steelers quarterback conversation will be addressed in future posts. Other future posts include expectations for the offseason, keys to improve for next season, and 2024 draft analysis.
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