Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers came into Week 13 with a great opportunity to pick up an easy home win over the struggling Arizona Cardinals. As they fight for a spot in the packed AFC, this week’s game was a very important one despite the overwhelming odds that the Steelers would win. Unfortunately, they took the game lightly and it turned into the ultimate trap game.
When everything was said and done, the Steelers ended up losing to the Cardinals by a final score of 24-10.
Not only did the Steelers lose the game, but they also suffered a major loss on the offensive side of the football. Starting quarterback Kenny Pickett went down with an ankle injury that will force him to miss some time. That will leave the keys of the offense to Mitchell Trubisky.
Mike Tomlin Brutally Rips Into The Steelers After Loss To Cardinals
Following the bad loss that severely hurt the team’s chances of getting into the playoffs, Tomlin did not hold back from issuing some very critical thoughts about his team.
“That was a horrible day at the office. We didn’t do much right in that game, to be quite honest with you. We have to own that, obviously, starting first and foremost with me. Just losing football. It really was. We were highly penalized, some pre-snap penalties, some operational penalties, bad snaps. Just JV football in a lot of ways.”
Needless to say, Tomlin was not happy with his team’s efforts and the fans felt the exact same way.
Looking ahead at Week 14, the Steelers have to find a way to rebound and pick up a win. They will take on the New England Patriots in Pittsburgh. Once again, that’s a game that the Steelers should be able to win easily.
After that game, they will face some tough opponents who are all in playoff fights of their own. They will play the Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals, Seattle Seahawks, and Baltimore Ravens to close out the season. Clearly, they don’t have an easy schedule outside of next week’s game.
All of that being said, it will be interesting to see how the Steelers respond to this loss. It was an embarrassing game, there’s no way around that. But, they have an opportunity to have a short memory and move on to get a big win next week.