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Pittsburgh perplexed at sudden loss streak
December 17, 2009, Thursday
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COACH Mike Tomlin isn't as concerned with trying to understand how the Super Bowl champions Pittsburgh Steelers could go bad in such a short time as he is with salvaging something out of the season - if that's possible.
The Steelers are on a five-game losing streak, dropping their win-loss record to 6-7.
They would be in playoff contention if they'd only beaten Kansas City, Oakland and Cleveland, but the National Football League's best team only 10 months ago lost to three of the league's weakest teams.
"We have to knuckle up and swallow some of the things that we're swallowing right now," Tomlin said on Tuesday.
The Steelers haven't had a six-game losing streak in 10 years, but they'll be stuck in one unless they beat the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
"I think anger would be one," Tomlin said when asked about the state of his team. "Disappointment, definitely. But it cannot rule us. We've got to focus singularly on the opportunity which is in front of us. Excuses and explanations for what has happened recently are really kind of irrelevant. You want to know what kind of team you are, look at your record or turn your tape on. The tape hasn't been pretty and neither is our record."
Turned around
To get turned around, Tomlin said the solution was simple. "We have to step into the stadium and make plays," he said. "The more plays we make, the more rhythm we get, the more confidence we'll get and, hopefully, we'll be able to put enough of those together to win."
The Steelers players had the day off on Tuesday, the fourth such off day in the last five, but their locker room was quiet and downcast on Monday, reflecting the team's perplexed state of mind. In mid-November, a return to the Super Bowl appeared to be a possibility; now it would take three weeks worth of upsets and their own about-face to get the Steelers into the playoffs.
Tomlin tried rallying his team when he said the Steelers planned to "unleash hell" in December, only to watch them lose to Oakland and Cleveland in a span of five days.
His inability to find a motivational tool has led to questions whether a coach who won the Super Bowl in only his second season may have somehow lost the Steelers during one of the worst periods in team history.
The Steelers are on a five-game losing streak, dropping their win-loss record to 6-7.
They would be in playoff contention if they'd only beaten Kansas City, Oakland and Cleveland, but the National Football League's best team only 10 months ago lost to three of the league's weakest teams.
"We have to knuckle up and swallow some of the things that we're swallowing right now," Tomlin said on Tuesday.
The Steelers haven't had a six-game losing streak in 10 years, but they'll be stuck in one unless they beat the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
"I think anger would be one," Tomlin said when asked about the state of his team. "Disappointment, definitely. But it cannot rule us. We've got to focus singularly on the opportunity which is in front of us. Excuses and explanations for what has happened recently are really kind of irrelevant. You want to know what kind of team you are, look at your record or turn your tape on. The tape hasn't been pretty and neither is our record."
Turned around
To get turned around, Tomlin said the solution was simple. "We have to step into the stadium and make plays," he said. "The more plays we make, the more rhythm we get, the more confidence we'll get and, hopefully, we'll be able to put enough of those together to win."
The Steelers players had the day off on Tuesday, the fourth such off day in the last five, but their locker room was quiet and downcast on Monday, reflecting the team's perplexed state of mind. In mid-November, a return to the Super Bowl appeared to be a possibility; now it would take three weeks worth of upsets and their own about-face to get the Steelers into the playoffs.
Tomlin tried rallying his team when he said the Steelers planned to "unleash hell" in December, only to watch them lose to Oakland and Cleveland in a span of five days.
His inability to find a motivational tool has led to questions whether a coach who won the Super Bowl in only his second season may have somehow lost the Steelers during one of the worst periods in team history.
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