Some pertinent tidbits from an article by Tim Benz about last night's beatdown of the Steelers:
The 7-0 deficit after the first 15 minutes means the Steelers have been outscored 73-0 in the first quarters of their last six playoff games. Over their final five games of this season, the Steelers were outscored 47-3 in the first quarter of those contests.
Tomlin’s team is constantly underprepared and thoroughly outmatched at the start of every game.
Statistically, it actually looks like Russell Wilson had a good game. He was 20 of 29 for 270 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. That’s a passer rating of 121.3.
However, on third and fourth downs, the team was 5 for 12. Four times, Wilson completed passes short of the line to gain. Somehow, one of those completions came up short on a third-and-2. He was also sacked four times and ran three other times for just 6 yards.
This loss means the Steelers have now dropped six playoff games in a row. The collective final score of those games is 230-146.
The franchise hasn’t won a playoff game in eight seasons. Tomlin has been the head coach for 18 years. Fourteen of those seasons have ended without a playoff victory.
The trip to Dallas for Super Bowl XLV was 14 years ago. A lot of time has passed since then. Antonio Brown was a rookie. Cam Heyward had yet to be drafted. T.J. Watt was in high school.
However, once the dust settles from the humiliation of this latest postseason defeat, all of those failures will be swept under the rug by the national media, and they’ll just yap about the fact that Tomlin has never had a losing season.
That accomplishment is treated like biblical scripture by the national talking heads. Meanwhile, it’s become a punchline in Pittsburgh, as has the team motto that Tomlin authored: “The standard is the standard.”
Well, the Steelers’ standard is now being moderately above average in the regular season, and a joke in the playoffs.
A Steelers season that had a lot of promise at 10-3 is now over thanks to an all-too-familiar collapse. It was another slide that started in December and ended with a thud in early January. It’s been that way in Pittsburgh pretty much since the end of the 2017 regular
triblive.com
