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And there are tangible results that really back that up. But we’re going to start with an intangible that’s served as the foundation for the team’s last two wins, sandwiching the Steelers’ Week 6 bye.
That intangible is what Mike Tomlin brings to the table, and has forever.
Last year, you’ll remember, Pittsburgh started 2–6. Everyone (present company included) assumed Tomlin would have his first sub-.500 season in 16 years as Steelers coach. Which is right when the Steelers start scratching and clawing their way back to relevance, and nearly to a playoff spot. They finished 9–8 and missed the dance on a tiebreaker. Still, a point was made.
That point—that Tomlin’s Steelers are, and always have been, tough and and hard to kill off—has been proved again in how the offense has come on late in Pittsburgh’s wins over the Ravens before the bye, and the Rams in L.A. on Sunday. As a result, the Steelers are coming on in the AFC North race, too.
“His consistent message is what has always been an eye-opener to me,” quarterback Kenny Pickett told me as the team was leaving SoFi Stadium. “You never have to guess with Coach. He’s always the same guy, no matter what. If it’s the start of the game or the end of the game, he keeps the same message and keeps the same body language and everything. It’s giving off confidence, and we all feed off of that. It’s great to have that in your head coach.”
It also leads to a steadiness that served the Steelers through their sideways starts to the past couple of games. They were outgained 244 to 88 and had just six first downs to Baltimore’s 15 in the first half in Week 5, and turned the tables completely in the fourth quarter, with a blocked kick to generate a field goal, a long drive to set up another field goal and a big scoring throw from Pickett down the sideline to George Pickens that set up the win.
This time around, the Steelers’ offensive fits lingered even longer. Going into the fourth quarter, the Steelers had 110 yards to the Rams’ 329, and 17 first downs to the Rams’ six. That said, they also had a belief in what they were doing and how they’d do it, because they knew and trusted the spots they were being put in by Tomlin and much-maligned OC Matt Canada.
In this case, that trust would pay off on the first play of the fourth quarter.
On third-and-8, Diontae Johnson ran a relatively simple return route and came completely free through the middle of the field, catching the ball and turning it up for a 39-yard gain. (The Steelers had only 72 net yards passing up until that point.) Pittsburgh would score two plays later, on a 13-yard Jaylen Warren run.
“That completely was the spark,” Pickett says. “They were in man. He’s a heck of a route runner. When I see that, I want to give him a chance to win and get open. Nine times out of 10, he’s going to do that. Great route, put the ball on him and then the run after catch is just what we’ve been pushing to get better at. He was awesome at that. It was awesome to have him back.”
That tied the score at 17, and while there was a lot more to the Steelers’ next drive, which covered 80 yards in 10 plays, that one was sparked by big plays in the pass game too, with big gainers of 18 and 21 yards to George Pickens keying a drive that was finished with a three-yard Najee Harris plunge. And after the Steelers’ defense got another stop, Pickett found Pickens for another 31 yards, which got the team’s game-ending 43-yard drive going.
“The chemistry’s there. I know where he’s going to be at pretty much at all times, with how he runs his routes and everything,” Pickett says. “He’s continued to work his route tree and get locked in on a few certain things, which is important for us. He’s an incredible player, so I just want to give him opportunities to make plays. The same with 18 [Johnson]. Those two guys are kind of the same in my thought process."
That gives the 25-year-old Pickett 27- and 22-year-old targets to grow with.
And if you want to know where the ceiling is for those guys as a group, Pickett thinks you’re seeing it in how the Steelers are playing these fourth quarters, which, they know, will eventually have to be seen for longer stretches than these little game-ending windows.
Now, if the Steelers can start the way they finish, maybe another part of Tomlin’s vision, the one that doesn’t come into focus until February, can be fulfilled.
