Pittsburgh Steelers Week 13 Recap: Punched in the Mouth

With the Cincinnati Bengals upsetting the Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving Day, the Pittsburgh Steelers were presented with an opportunity to take over first place in the AFC North…again. All the Steelers had to do was defeat the Buffalo Bills on their field. The final score of 26-7 with the Bills victorious does not reflect how badly the Steelers played and how ugly this game was for them.

The Black and Gold jumped out to a 7-3 halftime lead and looked prepared to win an intensively fought game heading into the third quarter. The wheels quickly fell off when Joey Bosa sacked Aaron Rodgers in a tackle the Steelers quarterback never saw coming and Rodgers quickly became part of the turf at Acrisure Stadium bloodying his nose in the process.

The tackle was so jarring it knocked the ball out of Rodgers hands and the Bills swept up the rock, taking it into the end zone for a go-ahead touchdown. It only got worse from there. Buffalo set a new opponent’s record for rushing yards against a Steelers defense in the history of Heinz Field/Acrisure Stadium with a final total of 249 yards on the ground. Pittsburgh’s defense was so pathetic they also gave up 123 yards passing as the Bills amassed 372 yards of total offense.

James Cook made his rushing attempts appear as though he was playing against some high school team running 32 times for 144 yards and a 4.5 yards per carry average. Ray Davis added 62 more for a 6.9 per carry mark. Even quarterback Josh Allen came close to averaging five yards a carry with 38 yards on eight tokes. Allen also reached the end zone on one carry.Here’s another black eye for the Steelers…Buffalo’s rushing total was the most in 50 years dating back to 1975 when ironically enough, the Buffalo Bills and the great O.J. Simpson ran roughshod over the Steelers and that was when Pittsburgh had a much better defense than what we see now. But that was obviously a bad day at the office for that squad because the current crops of defenders can’t hold a candle to that unit that was part of four Super Bowl wins in six years.

When the final gun sounded for his loss to Buffalo my first reaction was complete embarrassment for the team. When the result settled in, my emotions turned to anger. The time of possession in this game was utterly ridiculous. 41:59 for the Bills, a measly 18:01 for Pittsburgh. UNBELIEVABLE. 74 offensive plays for Buffalo and just 43 for the Steelers. 26 First downs for the Bills. Only 10 for Pittsburgh.

The Steelers’ offensive output was a joke. When Rodgers sat out for a few plays nursing his bumps and bruises, Mason Rudolph entered the game and threw an interception that led to points. Rudolph missed on all three pass attempts. Rodgers threw the ball 21 times and completed only 10 and then post-game blamed some of his receivers for running routes incorrectly. While the offense stunk up the joint, the defense was worse.

Now for my anger. Watching Mike Tomlin and his demeanor on the sidelines has become so irritating because he was like a zombie standing down there. Emotionless. His team has lost five of the last seven and it appears he simply does not care. Would Bill Cowher stand there on the sidelines going through this without spitting? I doubt it. Chuck Noll would have chewed someone up and spit them out with these types of performances. Not Mike Tomlin.

Tomlin: “The standard is the standard.” He has said that so many times. Hey coach…shut up with that. I’m tired of Art Rooney II playing old school management. Get with the times Art. ANY other team in this league after a defensive performance like what we saw in Pittsburgh against Buffalo would have fired their defensive coordinator probably as soon as the game ended. Not in Pittsburgh. No…the Steelers don’t fire coaches with the exception of Matt Canada last season which created nothing great in his wake.

Tyrel Austin should be fired. Plain and simple. There is talent on defense and even one of the Steelers and I think it was James Pierre said schemes would have made a difference in the loss to Chicago. But here we are and Austin still has his job. How bad was it at Acrisure Stadium? It’s a tradition in Pittsburgh to begin every third quarter with the playing of “Renegade” by Styx. That song was booed last Sunday. So were the Steelers team and rightfully so. To add insult to injury, there were chants of “Fire Mike Tomlin.” Tomlin reacted saying the fans have every right to be frustrated and he too is frustrated. Right. Tomlin added he would find changes to make to rectify the current state of play. Broken record dude. Heard it all before.

It is my opinion that Tomlin has lost this team and lost the locker room. There can be no excuses for the poor play given the talent this team has. The Steelers SHOULD be better than this. The common denominator is coaching. Sure, the players must play but they must also be put into position to make stops. Again…coaching. Circling back to talent, it was “all in” this season with the new defensive faces and of course AARON RODGERS.

Last Sunday he looked all of the 42 years age he is about to be. He looked old and played old. I honestly think keeping Russell Wilson around would have been a better option. Now I’m also thinking trading Kenny Pickett was a major mistake. Trading for D.K. Metcalf has not proved worth the move to this point. I honestly can’t remember the last time the Steelers had a long downfield successful pass play. Trading George Pickens to Dallas was another costly mistake. Pickens was always a deep threat and caught nearly every ball thrown at him. Now everything is run the ball and pass short. IT AIN’T WORKING!

Next up are the Baltimore Ravens on the road. They are almost as red-faced as the Steelers. I’m not going to even attempt to say the Steelers win this one. The Detroit Lions on the road are still ahead and another game with Baltimore as well as Cleveland. As it is right now with a defense that has no confidence and an offense that can’t be productive, Mike Tomlin is heading for his first losing season ever. We might even see a final record that shows somewhere between 9-11 losses.

ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike co-host and former NFL player and Super Bowl champion Chris Canty said it perfectly today. “All the Steelers fans have to go on is this record of having 21 straight winning seasons and one more would break the tie with the Dallas Cowboys. But there has not been a playoff win since 2016, and we’ve had three presidential elections since then. Steelers fans want a championship caliber team. They don’t have that right now.”

Canty was right. He was dead on right. 18 of those consecutive winning seasons have been with Mike Tomlin and three more before that with Bill Cowher. Priding ourselves on these Tomlin winning seasons has gotten old and soured. We want a competitive team that can stop opposing teams in a winning effort so that we can hold our heads high. We are so far from that right now and even if the Steelers surprise us and win the AFC North, is there anyone that seriously believes they can make a playoff run?

I think if they lose to Baltimore this next game, Rodgers should be benched, Mason Rudolph passed by and allow rookie Will Howard to come in a get a shot so we can see what we have heading into next season. Why not? The Cleveland Browns have allowed Shedeur Sanders to jump from third string to starter. He was at one time fourth on the depth chart. As said, this team is lost. They are broken mentally. You can tell there is no confidence, and fingers are starting to be pointed. That could blossom into a more divided locker room and if it does then the season is certainly lost.

How bad is it in 2025? Last season the Steelers were 23rd in total offense. This season with Aaron Rodgers behind center they’ve dropped to 27th. This year on defense they currently rank 28th overall. Last season they finished 12th. Mike Tomlin had said before the season began that this season’s defense had a chance to be “special.” We can see now they are nowhere near special. Every sports show you listen to the last few weeks there is a common theme that this should be Tomlin’s last season as coach. For Art Rooney II, keeping him onboard will cause much controversy among football circles and even much worse in Steelers Nation.

Most experts are saying that Tomlin and the Steelers should just part ways but not be fired. Either way, wholesale changes need to be made with the Steelers. It has become obvious Tomlin’s way simply no longer works. Or did it ever? His Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl XLIII was a team made up almost entirely of players carried over from the Bill Cowher era. Tomlin has made playoff appearances since then, but most have been first round knockouts. Steelers Nation will be pushing for Tomlin to be ousted and the only thing that might save his Steelers career will be to win as many of the five games remaining. That will be a tough task to accomplish.

In the meantime, Mike Tomlin needs to show Steelers Nation he is concerned about that status of the team and how they are performing and even if he has to fake it, show us some emotion on the sidelines. If his outing does come to fruition, then I have already made my choice for the next head coach in Pittsburgh…Jon Gruden. “Chuckie” would be an awesome fit in Pittsburgh with his fiery attitude and keep in mind he left the Oakland Raiders to become head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and won the Super Bowl in his first season. I don’t think there is a Steelers fan anywhere that would not be willing to exchange Tomlin for Gruden.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: NFL guru Adam Schefter was on ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike show this morning and reported that the Pittsburgh Steelers were 100% in the mix before the season began to trade for Matthew Stafford. The Steelers declined. Show co-host Chris Canty said this is a firable offense. Canty said he first felt bad about fans booing Mike Tomlin last Sunday but now knowing this Tomlin deserves the smoke. If Steelers fans weren’t angry enough with the loss to the Bills knowing this information should increase their anger twofold. Aaron Rodgers or Matthew Stafford? Easy choice.