Steelers coach Mike Tomlin didn’t exactly break any news as he opened his weekly news conference.
“We’ve got a body of work in recent weeks that has not been up to our standards,” Tomlin began, some 12-and-a-half hours after his third straight loss – 27-17 in Cincinnati – went final.
Tomlin had seen this movie before. We all had.
“We just have to perform better, particularly at the early stages of games,” Tomlin said. “What’s gone from bad has actually gotten worse in some instances.”
That was certainly the case Monday night. After a full week to prepare (plus a day), the allegedly retooled offense started like this: 3-and-out, 3-and-out, fumble, 3-and-out, fumble, then - after finally picking up a pair of first downs on the next drive - an interception.
Twenty-five minutes into a game against a 2-10-1 team, the Steelers trailed, 17-0, and never could catch up. Once again, they failed to clinch the AFC North so what was once a foregone conclusion may be on the line when they close out the regular season in Cleveland.
Clearly things must change but, even with the prospects of Vince Williams, James Conner and Kevin Dotson returning Sunday against the Colts, what options does Tomlin have at this point?
“There won’t be sweeping changes in terms of our approach, we just have to do it better,” Tomlin insisted, “we have to have more thoughtful and creative ideas; we’ve got to have better performances. We’ll shut our mouths and go to work.
Nonetheless, news conferences are about talking so Tomlin spoke the agonizingly slow starts by his offense. “We’ve got to drill it, position people to make plays,” he explained. “We’ve got to put together better plans, play those plans out better in stadiums, particularly at the beginning of games.”
Why does he have confidence the offense can perform better? “The men themselves, the manpower; I have confidence in the men that we work with, players and coaches.”
Tomlin continued to downplay any concern over Ben Roethlisberger’s health and was encouraged by Benny Snell’s determination, even calling Snell “awesome.” Maybe he will give the running game a chance early on Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field. More likely, it will be more of the same with the hope - the expectation - that Ben Roethlisberger, his receivers and his line will “perform better.”
A wise man (although apparently it was not Einstein, despite wide attribution) once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
If nothing else, the last three games are certainly driving Steelers fans crazy.
