A few weeks ago, I wrote why John Harbaugh should be the NFL coach of the year Not surprisingly, it was unpopular among fans in Pittsburgh. “Hot take click bait” was probably the nicest among the sentiments thrown my way.
In the spirit of Christmas, I will not ask for apologies, only that you all enjoy time with your families and friends ...
People are prisoners of the moment, and Mike Tomlin had the Steelers looking like they were virtually a lock to make the playoffs. The problem with that thinking is it not only was provincial, but it was short-sighted and premature. The NFL season is only 16 games, but it’s still a long season and a lot can happen in a matter of a few weeks.
Tomlin has guided this team through a lot this year and deserves a lot of credit. But even if the Steelers somehow catch lightning in a bottle and have everything hit just right Sunday to make the playoffs, he still isn’t or shouldn’t be the coach of the year. The last three weeks should actually remove him from the conversation.
Mind you, that’s not because the Steelers have lost two games in a row. The coach of the year honor is a body of work award. Given all the injuries and adversity, Tomlin has done an incredible job keeping this group together and keeping the team afloat. The Steelers are lucky to have him, and he’s been a great fit for the organization.
That being said, Tomlin and his offensive staff have not had a good run of games. The quarterback play has been inferior, the coaching has not helped, and the game plans have been so dumb that the Steelers never really had a chance to win.
In Devlin Hodges, the Steelers have a gimpy-armed quarterback who is mobile and not much else. He thrived in college in a wide-open, spread offense that can hide his deficiencies and play to his strengths. He isn’t going to be a pro-style passer and he isn’t going to be good at making throws to the sidelines from the middle of the field.
I’m not even a quarterback guru and I can figure that out. Randy Fichtner, though, is paid to draw up offenses, and for some reason he can’t figure that out or maybe he just doesn’t want to. Ask yourself how many rollout throws we’ve seen from Hodges. How about bootlegs and quarterback draws? How many times were the Steelers spread out in five receivers, thus minimizing the people in the middle of the field blocking his passing lanes?
Hodges is going to start again Sunday against Baltimore. That’s probably the right call because Paxton Lynch hasn’t played at all. If Fichtner and company come out with the same game plan as the past two weeks, it doesn’t matter who plays quarterback for the Ravens; the Steelers have no chance.
It’s time to stop with the jumbo packages and the attempts to run into nine-man fronts and make defenses react to what the Steelers are doing. The Steelers can’t run the ball for a variety of reasons, and some of them are because their running schemes lack creativity and any element of surprise.
Tomlin has had a great year, but he and his staff haven’t finished strong. They have lost two winnable games in a row because they lacked creativity and the ability to keep it simple for Hodges, and as a result they couldn’t score enough points. The biggest issue was play calling and game planning.
Combine that with the fact that the Steelers have not beaten a playoff-bound team and the AFC is extremely weak, and it’s clear Tomlin has had a lot of help keeping the Steelers afloat.
This isn’t meant to disparage what Tomlin has accomplished, but it’s clear he and his staff are stumbling as they try to finish the job.
Paul Zeise: pzeise@post-gazette.com and Twitter @PaulZeise
First Published: December 24, 2019, 6:57 p.m.