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Mike Tomlin's Steelers play host to the Cincinnati Bengals in the regular season finale.
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Paul Zeise's mailbag: Should Mike Tomlin be fired if the Steelers miss the playoffs?

Jessie Wardarski/Post-Gazette

Paul Zeise's mailbag: Should Mike Tomlin be fired if the Steelers miss the playoffs?

Welcome to Paul Zeise’s weekly mailbag, where the Post-Gazette columnist and 93.7 The Fan radio host answers your questions about sports, life and everything in between. If you want to ask Paul a question, tweet him @paulzeise or email him at pzeise@post-gazette.com. Let’s get started:


Ray Mehal, @rpburghman11: If the Steelers don't make the playoffs Sunday night, can you give me a good reason why Tomlin shouldn't be fired? The guy has lost control of his team! Lots of bad decisions also!

Zeise: He should not be fired. He should be called into the office, though, and told to make some changes to his staff and the division of labor with respect to things like clock management and challenges. He isn’t good at challenging officials’ calls. With all the technology we have available to us, there is no reason anyone should be so bad at challenging calls. The Steelers need a quality control coach in the worst way. But if they miss the playoffs, he should be on a bit of a hot seat next year. He has earned the right to get things back on track and figure it out. He hasn’t earned a lifetime contract, though. Next year must be much better, and it is up to Art Rooney II to make this clear to him in their end-of-season meeting.

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Wixie, @WixieEarlWilson: What staff changes do you think the Steelers will make after the season concludes?

Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler watches the team practice Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018 at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
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Zeise: I don’t know that there will be many staff changes. I just think there is a little bit of reluctance to throw coaches under the bus by Tomlin and the Steelers brass. They make some changes every year, it seems, but I don’t see anything earth-shattering. If I were running things, I’d have Tomlin make some significant changes to the defensive staff and also replace special teams coach Danny Smith. The defense has been underwhelming for too many years now, and the special teams are awful. If the standard is indeed the standard, then some of these assistants need to be held accountable. The Steelers defensive staff could use a good house cleaning.

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Ron Matthews: Wasn't getting rid of Todd Haley supposed to improve the Steelers? What happened?

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Zeise: Yes, isn’t that interesting? He was the one who was fired, and the offense isn’t markedly different from what it was. The Steelers have scored 412 points with one game to play. They achieved 400 or more points three times under Haley. Roethlisberger will throw for the most yards in his career (assuming he throws for 111 or more against the Bengals), but that has as much to do with the fact he doesn’t have Le’Veon Bell as anything else. The offense wasn’t the problem the last few years, nor was Haley. The problem has been the defense and special teams, and both of those coordinators were retained.


Jared Starks, @JaredStarks3: With Ivan Nova gone, do you think the Pirates will go out and trade or sign for a legit starting pitcher for their rotation?

Zeise: That depends on your definition of legit. If you are asking me whether I think the Pirates will sign a big-name free agent pitcher, the answer is no. I don’t even think they will sign or trade for a veteran who has a history of consistent success. They may go the scrap heap route and find a veteran who is inexpensive because he is coming off an injury or a bad season. They have had some success with that model, and I wouldn’t hate it, to be honest. The more likely route is either give a younger pitcher such as Nick Kingham an opportunity to compete for that final spot. That seems to be the way they are leaning, although they are also intrigued by the opener stuff.

Paul Zeise: pzeise@post-gazette.com and Twitter @PaulZeise

First Published: December 27, 2018, 5:12 p.m.

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