Pittsburgh sports media is gaslighting fans. We’re not buying it.
Tomlin benched Nick Herbig in the fourth quarter on the most important drive. The Steelers paid for it — and Pittsburgh media thinks the players are the sole reason for these embarrassing losses.
One of the most glaring things that stuck out in that embarrassing loss to the Bengals last Thursday night was how the Steelers lost and how the media responded to it.
Head coach Mike Tomlin watched his defense give up another lead to the Bengals offense as they tormented our secondary, all while benching Nick Herbig, who is currently their top pass rusher in pass‑rush win rate, and he was effective in pressuring Joe Flacco in this game.
What’s more embarrassing than that is how some in the Pittsburgh media just sit back week after week, listening to Tomlin’s excuses and not challenging his word salads. They even go as far as defending some of his nonsense and say that questioning his excuses would be “dumb questions.” Most of us know structure, personnel, and adjustments are coaching, but no, this same media believes “the players are not good at their job.”
Maybe some of that is true, but they have to know Ja’Marr Chase was targeted 23 times, a Bengals single‑game record and tied for the 3rd‑most in an NFL game on record, right? They know Chase ate the Steelers secondary up regardless of man or zone coverage because they played too relaxed on coverage while benching their pass rush on the final drive of the game, right?
They know Flacco was pressured on a season‑low 24.5% while averaging a time to throw of 2.44 seconds, right? Adjustments, people, say it with me, they did not exist. And if they did, they were not meaningful in any productive way because they clearly were not designed well.
“Our inability to control the run and limiting one‑dimensional passing circumstances probably affected his (Nick Herbig) participation some.”
- Mike Tomlin
The excuse for keeping Herbig off the field is his inability to be effective against the run, apparently. Not sure I fully agree there, but OK. Herbig saw 29 snaps against the Bengals, and when it came to the Bengals’ game‑winning drive, Herbig was on the bench. Before that drive, his last snap came around the 7:00 mark of the 4th quarter on a 3rd & 13 where he pressured Joe Flacco into throwing an incomplete pass out of bounds.
Why on earth would a head coach who is so universally praised pull his season-best pass rusher in a situation where the Bengals were looking to pass? Let me put it bluntly: we were robbed by stupidity. Some in the media believe the Steelers schemed their defense this way, saying, “You know what, that guy (Ja’Marr Chase) is going to get his,” because hey, that makes sense.
I don’t know what world we live in where people think that allowing one of the league’s best receivers to freely get open without providing any pass rush is an effective strategy.
When are we going to stop the gaslighting and keep it real? I wouldn’t hold your breath with most of these shills in the media. Let me put it this way for you. You can answer these questions in the comments.
Who has contributed to putting the Steelers roster together?
Who is in charge of game planning?
Who is in charge of situational football?
Who makes the adjustments at halftime?
If you feel at any point that this loss and previous embarrassing losses this team has suffered boil down solely to the players, why have the Steelers held onto these players well beyond a reasonable time frame? Who makes those decisions?
Stop the delusion.
The more things change, the more they remain the same in Pittsburgh.