The Pittsburgh Steelers are doing their best to fend off the Baltimore Ravens for control of the AFC North and the first-round home playoff game that comes with winning the division.
Unfortunately for the Steelers, things are trending in the wrong direction this season. On Sunday, the Steelers lost to the Los Angeles Chargers, dropping them to 1-3 in their last four games and 5-4 on the season.
The loss saw Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers have his worst performance of the season and one of his worst games of his storied career. However, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin wouldn’t go so far as to call it an off night.
“Sunday night was what it was,” Tomlin said on Tuesday, per ESPN. “But I have no long-term reservations about his ability to play the position and play the position at a high level for us.”
“I’m not going to chalk it up to an off night, but there are no long-term concerns,” he continued.
Aaron Rodgers sang a different tune and directly contradicted Tomlin’s words, saying that he did have an off night in his eyes.
“A lot of stuff wasn’t working,” Rodgers said. “We were bad on third down. I was just a little bit off. … I missed, obviously, some throws, for sure. And then we weren’t getting guys open and just put it all together times the guys were open. I missed some throws I usually make.”
Fans reacted to the assessments on social media.
“I don’t want to be dramatic, but that might be the worst performance I’ve ever seen from a Steelers QB. I have been a fan for almost 20 years. Only others that come to mind are Landry Jones and Mitch. Someone let me know if I’m wrong but I think we had 1 first down at half?” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“I told everyone defense was a fluke Aron gets blamed offense of line suck Tomlin didn’t even pick up another receiver the he goes get some guy for cb whose not even play get rid of Tomlin,” someone else added.
“There is 1 fundamental truth with the NFL. When talent is not developed, game plans are not executed, Offense is not right, D is not right, time management is non-existent, fans are unhappy, locker room is lost, team is divided………….the problem? It’s the Head Coach,” one fan added.
It’ll be interesting to see if Rodgers and Tomlin can turn things around.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.