Mike Tomlin is convinced that the Pittsburgh Steelers will bounce back after a tough loss against the Los Angeles Chargers. The head coach explained that the key lies in football fundamentals.
“You’re not going to win football games not converting third downs and losing the turnover battle. We certainly were loose with the ball in several instances and didn’t convert enough third downs. So, that’s the end result. There’s nothing mystical about it. We’ll be better. We have to be. It’s football. It’s life. We’ll be back.”
Aaron Rodgers and the offense have once again raised a lot of doubts, which is why, for now, the Steelers are far from being Super Bowl contenders. Because of that, when reporters saw how confident Tomlin was, they asked him what gives him confidence that Pittsburgh will be back. “53 years of life and particularly in this business.”
Can Steelers make the playoffs?
The Steelers can still make the playoffs with a 4-5 record, but the road has gotten much tougher. In the AFC North race, the Baltimore Ravens are now just one game behind thanks to the return of Lamar Jackson.
If they don’t win the division, the race for a Wild Card spot will be very difficult, as they still have to face the Bills, Lions, and the Ravens twice. They also can’t take wins against the Bengals or the Miami Dolphins for granted.
The AFC East looks likely to send two teams to the postseason, so the battle could come down to AFC West teams like the Chiefs, Broncos, and Chargers for the final spots.
Why are Steelers not running the ball?
One of the main criticisms of Mike Tomlin in the game against the Chargers was why the team didn’t run the ball more, especially since Jaylen Warren was having success. This was the head coach’s response. “Guys, you’re 0 for 9 or 0 for 10 on third down, you’re not going to have enough snaps. Like we’ve been over that discussion a lot. Next question.”
Tomlin said that Rodgers and the offense need to extend drives; otherwise, they won’t have a chance to win games. “We certainly were not good enough in possession down play on offense. That affected us in a lot of ways. First and foremost, the scoreboard. You got to possess the ball in an effort to score and certainly if you’re not doing a good job on possession downs, you need to have some big play splash. We didn’t really have either.”