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The Pittsburgh Steelers' 30-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday exposed faultlines, pitting coach Mike Tomlin against the now-retired quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who led them to two titles.
It was the third straight loss for Pittsburgh, and the only saving grace, if it could be called that, was that they lost to a fellow playoff contender this time. The last two weeks saw them lose to two 2-10 teams, the Arizona Cardinals and the New England Patriots.
Indianapolis Colts were without star running back Jonathan Taylor and starting quarterback Anthony Richardson but still put up 30 points on a team that has historically prided itself on being tough to score against and beat.
It served to validate the criticisms of Ben Roethlisberger earlier in the week, when he said:
“Maybe the tradition of the Pittsburgh Steelers is done. Maybe it needs to be formed a new kind of way, I don’t know.”
It was seen as a veiled criticism of coach Mike Tomlin, and there was a lot of debate on the issue after the former quarterback aired his views on his "Footbahlin" podcast.
However, after the Colts loss, it looked as if most fans took the ex-player's side rather than the coach's. Fans took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to bash Mike Tomlin and back Ben Roethlisberger, arguing that the Steelers have fallen far short of their lofty standards.
They went so far as to say that the coach, who does not have a losing season in his career with them, should be fired. One tweeted:
"Ben Roesthlisberger was right. The Pittsburgh Steelers tradition is over."
Here are some of the reactions on the social media platform:
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin gets particular grief for choice of attire
Another reason why a lot of people seemed to have a problem with Mike Tomlin in this particular game was the choice of shirt he wore on the sidelines.
It said, "Justice, Opportunity, Freedom, Equity", all cherished ideals for any society. However, the longest-tenured black coach's sartorial selection had some people up in arms.
The loss to the Colts did not help his case, but Mike Tomlin is still a Super Bowl-winning coach.
Just two seasons ago, when Ben Roethlisberger was struggling in his final season, he took the Steelers to the playoffs over more-fancied teams in their division. The Baltimore Ravens were among them but did not fire their coach based on that losing season in 2021-22 and are now back atop the AFC. Maybe, that's something for the Pittsburgh fans to remember.
