The Steelers were up 13-0 less than a minute into the second quarter of Saturday’s game against the Colts, but any good feelings that accompanied the start to the game would be a distant memory by the time it was over.
The Colts scored the final 30 points of the afternoon and sent the Steelers back to Pittsburgh on a three-game losing streak that has made their road to the postseason more difficult. The Steelers turned the ball over three times, committed eight penalties for 101 yards and allowed 170 rushing yards to a team missing its top two backs, which were all reasons why head coach Mike Tomlin said “we can’t play football like that” while expecting to win games.
“Let’s be honest. We’re a fundamentally poor football group right now,” Tomlin said, via the team’s website. “We’re playing losing football. And I take responsibility for that. By losing football, I mean, we’re just not doing fundamental things well enough. We’re not. We’re turning the ball over. We’re highly penalized. We don’t play good in situations. And so, I’m just acknowledging that. I don’t necessarily have the answers as we sit here today. If I had the answers, we would have played differently today. But I will acknowledge things won’t continue the way that they are. We’re not going to keep doing the same things that we’re doing and expect or hope for a different result. And so, we got a seven day turn around. We’ll see what those seven days hold for us. But I’m just acknowledging right now that we’re playing losing football, and I own that. Not a good day.”
One change the Steelers made late in Saturday’s game was pulling Mitch Trubisky for Mason Rudolph, but Tomlin wasn’t saying who will start against the Bengals next weekend if Kenny Pickett remains out with an ankle injury. He reiterated that the team is “not going to roll that ball out there like that next week,” though, and the coming days should bring more of an idea of what will change for the Steelers.