It's Not the Jets Fault the Steelers Missed the Playoffs

Story by Conflicted Yinzer Luke Ranalli

It's been one day since the Steelers have been eliminated from the playoffs and I'm already tired of hearing about the Goddamn Jets.

I'm tired of the excuses, I'm tired of the blame game, I'm tired of the what ifs and relying on other teams to win games for the hopes of squeaking in another playoff berth just to lose in the first round. 

If you are sitting here today talking about the questionable call in the Dolphins game that allowed them to continue their drive that led to the game winning field goal, you're talking about the wrong thing. If you're worried about the fact that Mike Tomlin continued his winning record, you're worried about the wrong issues.

I don't want to be all doom and gloom, I think this season brought about a lot of things to look forward to as a Steelers fan. For starters, Kenny Pickett is looking like the franchise QB of the future, which given the state of how he started this season, I think can afford for a big sigh of relief. Knowing that Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph are not the answer moving forward is good knowledge to have. The offense has been more reliable in terms of putting up points, whether or not that was due to Matt Canada or not is yet to be seen, but it's a start. 

Sure, there are positive takes from this season, from Najee Harris looking better down the stretch, to Pickett and George Pickens looking like they will have a lot a success in the next few years. Yes, there are a lot of good things to talk about, but today is not that day, today, I'm not a happy Yinzer.

Let's start with Tomlin's winning record because I have been seeing post after post about his accomplishments. First of all, the Steelers had to win their last four games to accomplish this feat, and they were hardly able do that. Sure, it was nice to see Pickett come in clutch with two game winning drives against the Raiders and the Ravens, but those games were very close calls that could have easily had different outcomes. Did you know that out of the nine wins this season, the Steelers have won five of those games by a field goal or closer. We're not talking shootout games that came down to the wire with seconds left on the clock, these were just poorly managed games that the defense allotted the offense enough time to manage to put up just enough points so they could inch their way to the finish line. 

Look, I'm totally aware that what Tomlin did with a rookie QB and a mediocre offensive line is impressive, to an extent. Not many teams can boast a winning season with mostly rookies and unseasoned players on offense, but again, it's just an excuse. Previous years it was "Well Big Ben is on the decline" how could Tomlin win with an aging QB and a mediocre running back. Ok, if you want to make the excuse that after Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell left they had a poor offense for Ben, I can get on board. If you want to tell me the turmoil in the locker room right before the departure of Brown and Bell was a huge factor in losing, I can see where you're coming from, even though I would have to ask you who should have been able to manage that locker room. 

The bottom line comes down to the fact that Tomlin took over this team in 2007, won a Super Bowl in 2008, with one more trip to the Super Bowl in 2010. Since then, Tomlin has taken this team to four wild card games, two divisional games and one AFC championship game. That may seem impressive, but is it really? Ask the 2007 Patriots if they are satisfied with their perfect season but losing the Super Bowl to the Giants. Ask the '72 Dolphins if that season would have been as special if they lost in the playoffs. Having a perfect season, being over .500, making the wild card, does any of it matter if the Steelers can't compete for it all?

As I mentioned in a column a few weeks ago, there are a lot of contracts coming up, and it's going to be hard to keep this defense together, let alone pay for the rookie contracts coming up on offense. To be contenders in the coming years there needs to be a change, and the only place I see that happening to make a real difference is at head coach. Look at Dan Campbell with the Detroit Lions, he took a team that was notoriously bad, picked up a few offensive and defensive pieces, and took a team that was under .500 for the past four seasons and almost made the playoffs. Tomlin took a Super Bowl team and made them average for the better part of a decade. 

At the end of the day Tomlin will be the head coach for at least another two years, and knowing this organization, if he wants to be, much longer than that. I'm not mad at Tomlin, or this organization, or the players, it could always be worse. However, I'm tired of being stuck between mediocre and could be great, and never seeing a payoff.

Maybe I'm just venting today, frustrated that I won't have any more Steelers Sundays until September. Maybe I have a point, but I keep losing it in thinking about what this offseason will bring and the players the Steelers will have to trade. Time always feels fleeting the older I get, and the more I think about the money being spent on T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, and Minkah Fitzpatrick the more worried I become thinking about what this team may look like in the next few years. Only time will tell, and I hope for Kenny Pickett and George Pickens and the rest of the fresh-faced Steelers that the organization can figure out a way to keep moving forward as contracts expire and decisions need made.