Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers started the season well and were 10-3 after Week 14. They were in pole position to win the AFC North and had a shot at finishing with the best record in the conference.
However, they lost four straight games and finished the season 10-7. The Steelers missed out on the division title and will now travel to Baltimore to face the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card Round.
Kurt Warner recently discussed the Steelers’ problems and suggested what Tomlin’s team should focus on to get results in the postseason.
Kurt Warner Breaks Down Steelers’ Problems on Offense
In a recent segment on “The Rich Eisen Show,” Warner discussed how Russell Wilson’s focus on big plays and checkdowns helped the team earlier in the season. Once the big plays were taken out of the game due to George Pickens’ missed time, the Steelers’ offense started to struggle.
The two-time NFL MVP also highlighted that it’s tough for Wilson to pick apart opposing defenses with his passing, so he has to rely on making big plays with the help of Pickens.
“They [Steelers] played Cincinnati earlier in the year and scored 44 points, and you saw Russell Wilson getting big play after big play after big play,” Warner said. “But that was really the only game that I’ve seen where they’ve really been able to establish, you know, a consistent passing game all year long. And a lot of them, again, were big plays.”
“It wasn’t about, you know, Russell Wilson dissecting another team,” added Warner. “So, that, to me, is going to be paramount against Baltimore.”
The Hall of Famer further advised teams playing against the Steelers, saying, “Don’t give up the big play; force the Steelers to work the field. Force Russell Wilson to make play after play, read after read, right decision after right decision, to beat you. Because, you know, they just haven’t done it very well.”
During the Steelers’ four-game losing streak, the team’s offense has averaged just 14.25 points per game. Wilson has thrown for 698 yards, four touchdowns, and two interceptions, completing 63.6 of his throws with a passer rating of 81.3.
In this span, he has averaged 174.5 passing yards per game, which is much less than his average of 254.9 passing yards per game and a passer rating of 103.9 he had in the first nine games of the season. Since Week 15, Wilson hasn’t thrown a touchdown on a pass traveling 15 or more air yards, despite having seven deep-ball touchdowns in his first seven starts.
In Week 18, Wilson grades at 70.2 (C-), the ninth-best of his 11 games this season, according to PFN’s QB+ metric. He will likely need to perform better in the playoffs if the Steelers want to take down the AFC North-champion Ravens
Pickens will play in the playoffs, but he didn’t look good in Week 18’s loss against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Steelers’ offensive success relies on his efforts, and it will be intriguing to see how he approaches the game against the Ravens.
Mike Tomlin Hasn’t Won a Playoff Game in 8 Years
Tomlin is often regarded among the best head coaches in the league, and he has been with the Steelers since the 2007 NFL season. He won a Super Bowl but is 8-10 in the playoffs in his career.
The Steelers have not won a playoff game since 2017, and Tomlin desperately needs a win in the postseason this year. Pittsburgh has made the playoffs in three of the last four seasons, but their fans will not be happy unless they win a game when it matters the most.
Tomlin and Wilson have a chance to pull off a massive upset against the Ravens on Saturday. Baltimore is viewed as a legitimate Super Bowl contender, and if the Steelers knock them out in the Wild Card Round, it will do a lot for the reputation of the quarterback and the head coach.
Wilson is playing for a contract, and if he doesn’t perform well against the Ravens, Steelers fans might be opposed to the idea of the team keeping him on the roster. Ending the season on a five-game losing streak will be catastrophic for the Steelers, so Tomlin has to come up with a game plan to make sure his team comes out on top against Lamar Jackson and John Harbaugh.