Mike Tomlin hopes Steelers understand urgency at hand after back-to-back losses to 2-win teams
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin yells from the sidelines during the second half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, in Pittsburgh.
As historic as the back-to-back losses to two-win teams were for the Pittsburgh Steelers, it wasn’t devastating to their chances of making the AFC playoffs.
In fact, it had little impact.
Despite becoming the first team in NFL history with a winning record to lose consecutive games to teams at least eight games below .500, the 7-6 Steelers still hold the No. 6 spot in the seven-team playoff field.
They were fifth before the 24-10 loss to Arizona and 21-18 defeat to New England within a five-day span last week.
The Steelers have a chance to get back on track Saturday when they face the 7-6 Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. A third consecutive loss, however, would seriously put any playoff hopes in jeopardy.
Coach Mike Tomlin said at his weekly news conference Monday that he doesn’t feel the need to dangle that carrot to his players as a reminder of what is at stake.
“I think our guys understand that,” Tomlin said. “I’m not looking for positive messages in an effort to build them up. I’m probably taking the opposite approach and talking about how urgent these weeks and opportunities and games are.
“‘The road is getting narrow’ is a phrase we like to use. We’re moving into the middle of December, and that is acknowledging that truth. These are opportunities to establish your position. These games are big. This game is big.”
The Steelers and Colts are among six teams owning 7-6 records in the AFC with four weeks left in the season. Cleveland holds the top wild-card spot with an 8-5 record. Baltimore leads the division and entered Monday with the conference’s top seed at 10-3.
The Colts hold the final playoff spot, followed by the 7-6 quartet of Houston, Denver, Cincinnati and Buffalo. Houston’s 30-6 upset loss at the New York Jets played into the Steelers’ favor Sunday, and Indianapolis’ loss to Cincinnati helped jumble the wild-card field.
“I’m excited about this group meeting the challenge that is an NFL season,” Tomlin said. “It’s thick this week.”
Despite occupying the No. 6 spot, the Steelers are tied with the Bengals for the lowest odds of reaching the postseason among the 7-6 teams, according to the New York Times’ simulator. It sits at 25%. ESPN’s playoff predictor puts the Steelers’ chance of reaching the postseason at 32%.
The Steelers control their fate by playing games against Cincinnati and Baltimore sandwiched around a trip to Seattle on New Year’s Eve. The Seahawks, at 6-7, are the only team with a losing record remaining on the Steelers’ schedule.
Tomlin has presided over late-season collapses as recently as the 2018-20 seasons. He also has experienced second-half turnarounds such as last season when the Steelers won six of their final seven and ended the season on a four-game winning streak.
“I don’t know that I ever compare present circumstances to the things of the past,” Tomlin said. “I have that experience, but experiences that I have are different than the experiences that the team has. So I waste very little time doing those things. I really just focus on the variables at hand, the resources at hand and how we can go about moving forward.”
Which is why Tomlin didn’t put much stock in All-Pro free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick’s comments after the loss to the Patriots. Fitzpatrick told ESPN that the Steelers need more players “who want to work for it, not expect it to be handed to them.”
“He was probably talking about smiling in the face of adversity,” Tomlin said. “These are going to be tough games. There is going to be some adversity. There are challenges, and nothing is going to be given to us. We have to fight that. We have to smile in the face of that. He’s a guy who does that and lives that life, and I’m sure he’s challenging others to do that.”
Tomlin also isn’t concerned about any potential discourse in the locker room or players talking about more accountability being needed on the team.
“Oftentimes these discussions come up when you’re not getting the desired results,” he said. “I’m not alarmed by the discussion, but I’m putting my focus on where it should be: our preparation and in improving our preparation in an effort to improve our performance.”
Joe Rutter is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe by email at.
