The Steelers were trying to claw back from a two-score deficit in the final minutes of their game Thursday night against the rival Browns.
And Mike Tomlin punted. How sad.
Faced with a 4th-and-6 at Pittsburgh's 10-yard line with 4:26 remaining, Tomlin called out the punt team, effectively waving the white flag.
The Steelers head coach may express confidence in Mitch Trubisky at the podium, but his decisions on the field say otherwise. The Steelers are a conservative team that doesn't take any risks.
That's just not going to work in today's NFL.
After scoring 14 points in the second quarter, the Steelers' attack petered out in the second half. They punted the ball at the end of their first four possessions — including three consecutive 3-and-outs.
With that in mind, it's understandable why Tomlin didn't have faith his offense could engineer a scoring drive backed up on their own 10.
But that's the problem. The Steelers' offense, which went 1-for-9 on third downs, is bad with Trubisky under center. Even their good plays conjure up negative feelings.
George Pickens' OBJ-like catch in the first half was awesome. But then why wasn't he involved for the rest of the game?
Even with a plethora of weapons, Trubisky couldn't move the ball at all in the fourth quarter. There were incompletions to Chase Claypool, Pat Freiermuth, and a horribly short-armed deep ball to Diontae Johnson.
Trubisky was sacked the play before Tomlin decided to surrender.
It's true that Tomlin has a propensity to "live in his own fears" and punt on crucial fourth downs — such as when the Steelers punted on 4th-and-1 when they down by 21 points last season .. for some reason.
But his game-costing conservatism also says something about the Steelers' quarterback play. For the most part, Ben Roethlisberger struggled over his last year-and-a-half, and Trubisky is following in his footsteps.
Meanwhile, Kenny Pickett sits on the bench. The rookie may not be great, but hopefully he would at least be good enough to warrant a chance on 4th-and-6.
