MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
Nearly two months ago, the headline here read, “When your rival has your number.”
Somebody tell the Pittsburgh Steelers to check their speed dial. They’ve lost the Baltimore Ravens’ number.
Since beating the Ravens, 18-16, despite not scoring a touchdown on November 17, the Steelers went 2-6 and lost four in a row to close the regular season before losing soundly to the Ravens for the second time in four weeks to close the books on a season that jackknifed into disaster.
The Ravens not only beat the Steelers twice in four weeks, they doubled the score both times – 34-17 and 28-14 – in games that weren’t really that close.
How dominating was the Ravens’ wild-card victory over the Steelers on Saturday? Behind Derrick Henry, Lamar Jackson and an offensive line that has suddenly become one of the best in the AFC, the Ravens outgained the Steelers on the ground, 299 to 29, and had more first downs in the first half (19) than the Steelers had total plays (18).
Henry set a Ravens postseason record with 186 yards rushing, but it was Jackson who got the team off to the hot start because of his rushing ability.
On Baltimore’s opening drive, Jackson carried on five straight plays and converted two third downs. Two drives later, he had 40 rushing yards as the Ravens took a 14-point lead. For the game he finished with 81 yards on 15 carries and was 16-of-21 passing for 175 yards and two touchdowns, the first on a perfect throw to Rashod Bateman on 3rd-and-13.
Up front, rookie right tackle Roger Rosengarten, who last week went viral by telling Myles Garrett, “I’m a nobody,” spent most of his NFL playoff debut blocking Steelers pass rusher TJ Watt, who didn’t record a single stat in the game.
It would seem nobody has arrived.
Offensively, the Steelers went to a trick play on the second possession of the game, so the dye was cast early. Defensively, they had no one holding the edge, and Jackson took full advantage.
For the Steelers it marked the sixth straight playoff loss, and to put that into perspective, Watt himself has never played in a winning playoff game.
So while Saturday’s performance was all about the Ravens, the narrative centers around the future of the Steelers, as speculation is more rife than ever that it is head coach Mike Tomlin who is responsible for this and that the time has come for the Steelers and the head coach to part ways, be it amicably or not.
The talk through the Steelers’ losing streak has been that the team and the coach might agree to a trade of Tomlin even though Tomlin has a no-trade clause in his contract. So he isn’t going anywhere unless he wants to. Or is fired. Which isn’t happening.
This, of course, is nothing new for Tomlin or for the Steelers franchise, although, in fairness, six straight playoff losses is something that is kind of new and most unwelcome in Pittsburgh, unless it’s the Pirates.
Still, so many of us have such short memories, for there was a time that Steelers fans clamored for the heads of both Chuck Noll, he of four Super Bowl titles, and Bill Cowher before he took the team to two Super Bowls, winning one.
Hardly a newsflash here, but The Rooney Way is the Rooneys’ way; and while there will be personnel changes everywhere with the Steelers, including defensively, it is likely to be Mike Tomlin who will be the person still making those changes.
Let’s be honest, the only surprising thing about the three Ravens-Steelers games is that the Steelers won one of them, which was more of an indictment on the Ravens, who didn’t allow Pittsburgh a touchdown that day.
The Ravens are clearly better than the Steelers are these days, but so, too, are a handful of other teams.
Face it, the Steelers roster is not that good. The best offensive player, George Pickens, seems to play only when he is interested. The quarterback, Russell Wilson, who played well Saturday, was cut loose by Denver and was turned down by every team other than the Steelers, who gave him a one-year deal at the minimum.
The defense is still good, but as we’ve seen recently, nothing special, so this involves much more than just coaching. This roster hasn’t been up to “the standard is the standard” that Tomlin always talks about. At the same time, Tomlin has the largest hand in determining the roster.
It is fashionable to say that if the Philadelphia Eagles could part ways with Andy Reid, the Pittsburgh Steelers can part ways with Mike Tomlin, and there is truth to that, because it holds true for every franchise. Except it doesn’t with the Rooneys, because they’ve always played the slow hand. They march to their own drum.
The Steelers are currently where they were over 20 years ago before being in position to draft Ben Roethlisberger, and it can be considered to be the worst spot to be in sports. They’re good enough to make the postseason but not good enough to win in the postseason.
So you stay status quo because it works, as nobody wants to be bad enough to draft a franchise quarterback. At the same time, not being good enough to win with a veteran castoff isn’t much fun either.
Something’s got to give. Something’s going to give. Someone’s going to go.
It just won’t be Mike Tomlin.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @MikeBurkeMDT