This team cannot continue without Tuitt on the DL. I'm glad they rested the guy due to his bicep but the middle of the D suffers without him.

We cannot underestimate what TJ Watt brings to the table. His relentless pursuit, pass rush and he has gotten better holding the edge and he was making plays something this D missed in crucial situations today. So far he's the straw that stirs the drink on D.

Since Glennon scares no one and Chickillo cannot set the edge on the run, the fact that Harrison did not play the second half to hold the edge and contain the run is asinine at best and criminal at worst. This is on coaching and is a complete and utter failing.

That Bud Dupree isn't very good. He's good for 1-2 plays a game but disappears more than a magician's assistant. Makes me wonder if he had at least 5 tackles this game. I think he might've had 2 total.

this D suffers from a "mule kick" to the head. Chicago ran the stretch play all game long to the tune of over 200yds rushing. Glennon's leading receivers were the running backs because he checked down continually. All offensive touches for the Chi O was between 0-5 yards of the LOS and Butler and Co. acted like they had never seen this before. Epic fail.

Ben is playing an all or nothing type of game. Either this is by design to see what's gonna work early in the season or he's so enamored from going deep on Madden w/ the killer B's that it's clouding his judgement to the detriment of the team. For this team to be great, he's got to be better. Work the other guys into the game and reward them for getting open. Develop them into weapons that can be used later in the season where the moment will not be too big for them. Stop eyeballing one guy because that's something a rookie does and you are far from that. You're the leader not only of the O but of this team. As you go so goes the team. Either give a crap and play better or retire and get the hell outta the way so we can start the rebuild because your play hasn't been worth a flying flip so far this season.

Haley is a douche for not trying to rein him in. Either Ben is calling this crap and it's Haley not taking charge of making this O more consistent or Haley is calling this crap and Ben isn't doing what's needed to check out of it. I believe they're both to blame and that's why Haley is a douche. Your job is to call plays to take exploit the opposing D and not to reach into Felix's magic bag of tricks for a shiny. Do your freakin job and take control of this O or the Steelers should get someone who should. This was epic failure of the highest order! No way this O should be held to 17pts with only 1 long TD drive.

Bell drastically underestimated his preparation away from the team vs. his preparation w/ the team. His vision seems lacking, low explosiveness and his overall timing is off. His ability to hit the hole w/ power and decisiveness left many yards on the field. If he's that rusty give Connor and Watson some carries. This game was perfect for them.

Bryant still doesn't know how to use his size and power to body out defenders or fight for the catch. He's 6'4" but plays like he's 5'9". Let him go one on one w/ Burns and Hayden on jump ball drills during practice, after practice, before practice, in his sleep and when he's awake. Make him a weapon outside of the guy that's tall and just runs fast down the field and we had that before w/ Coates.

Maurkice Pouncey is no Dermonti Dawson. He's agile for a center but he has no power and no anchor. He gets no push at the point of attack and as I watched the games this season it seems like his guy more than likely is the one making the tackles of Bell for no or little gain. (Again see Bell's problems from up above). I don't see what the hype is with the guy.

Mike Tomlin has put his stamp on this team. Tomlin gets his team ready for the spotlight but not the overall fight. This is why they continue to play to the level of their competition. Today should've been about destroying the Bears and leading the division but it became about protesting/not protesting the anthem and it trickles down to the player. From AB's video show before the AFCG last year, unleashing hell in Dec a few years back, to the anthem today. He continues to deal with the things that don't matter and that's why the team plays to the level of their competition.

Next week, we'll play smashmouth football against the Ravens playing right into their hands. Bell will get 35 car for 100yds and will win 19-16 or lose 19-16. Why? because Ravens vs. Steelers is an old bring your hard hat game. In reality, with our weapons, we should hang 6TDs on them without too much effort if we play to our strengths but we won't because the spotlight is on us and they must play to the spotlight. So we will see hard hits, great efforts and the highs and lows of an epic struggle. Guys will get injured and people will scream. What should happen is that we should have all of our backups in during the last half of the 4th qtr because we're winning 42-10. He has the wrong goals for this team. His goal is to win the division and everything else is gravy. Bellicheat's goal is to win the SB and everything else is failure. So get ready for another 11-5 season and a playoff exit unless the Tomlin mentality changes.

Outstanding post. Agree with all of it.

cajun!
Man on fire!

You nailed all point.

Where was Harrison for the run stuffIng against a team that found early run success which then became obvious that's all they were going to do. Chick was bad setting the edge. Harrison is one of the best at it. I called for silver back in game thread. In game adjustments are few and far between under Tomlin.

And yeah....the mentality and preparation for Baltimore will be the same.
I bet they use one of their allotment of padded practices for more 7 shots and big LB vs RB collisions rather than offensive competence and tackling.

This offensive strategy is maddening to say the least.
Bombs away wasting plays and possessions with very low success rate plays.
Empty set..5 wide third and goal from the 1.
Just dumb football.

And that's the issue at heart. How much "we do what we do" , running into a brick wall mentality will it take before enough is enough. You know what my favorite Balt vs Steelers game was? It wasn't the AFCG that Troy P. helped seal the ticket for the SB. My favorite game was when Harrison went ballistic on them on D and Ben did a surgical strike on O. That team was dominated from pretty much jump. The Steelers had something to counter them every step of the way. That's the way opposing teams should be handled and far more often than not they do just the opposite and as a fan it kills me every time.

Haley either has too much Ben in his ear (which Tomlin obviously approves of), is incompetent, or most likely both.

Tomlin is fat and happy. He'll coast into the playoffs with this team/schedule and laugh all the way to the bank.

I think it happens to most coaches not named Belicheat. After 10-12 years, the "edge" is gone. Guys settle into what they are comfortable with or what has worked and on longer have the drive to obsess and innovate. When Cowher finally won his SB, the fire was gone....just blank stares on the sidelines (sound familiar?).

Ben failed on the road again and I really hope someone asked the coach about now why they didn't use James. The old excuse was they riding the hot hand in chick but it was not today

I'm going to guess Harrison is the singularly most pissed off guy on the team right now.

Is that what the coaches want To se James because they really are screwing the pouch with this guy

I believe I saw Harrison out there for maybe a couple of plays or even 1 series and then he was about as visible as sasquatch.

The one time I saw him on the field he dropped back into pass defense.