T.J. Watt is coming off another NFL sack title. (Yahoo Sports/Bruno Rouby)
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The Pittsburgh Steelers seemed like they were finished, and perhaps Mike Tomlin’s tenure as Steelers coach finally would be too.
Pittsburgh lost consecutive home games in Weeks 13 and 14 to the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals, a pair of 4-13 teams. Then they had a listless 30-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. They were 7-7, their odds to make the playoffs were less than 10% in some models and less than 5% in others, and they were turning to Mason Rudolph at quarterback.
The lesson in what happened next is that Tomlin’s streak of non-losing seasons simply won’t die.
The Steelers rallied to win three in a row and made the playoffs. It’s remarkable (and also repeated a million times) that Tomlin has been Steelers coach for 17 years and still hasn’t had a losing season. He got a three-year contract extension this offseason.
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While that was a fun rally, it’s also worth wondering if there’s another level for the Steelers or if barely making the playoffs just keeps them on the merry-go-round of being slightly above average every season. Tomlin has a surprising amount of critics, and they’ll quickly point out that Pittsburgh hasn’t won a playoff game since the end of the 2016 season. The Steelers lost 31-17 to the Buffalo Bills in a wild-card playoff game last season and it was obvious there is a sizable gap between the Steelers and the AFC’s best teams. The Steelers didn’t really seem like a playoff-worthy team, and a fortunate 9-2 record in one-score games did most of the heavy lifting to get them to the postseason.
Being in the middle means there are no easy solutions at…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-offseason-power-rankings-no-15-pittsburgh-steelers-hope-russell-wilson-or-justin-fields-shine-122706579.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-07-11 12:27:06
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