Steelers’ Mike Tomlin Candid After Christmas Day Loss To Chiefs

The Pittsburgh Steelers unwrapped their third consecutive loss on Christmas Day, and it wasn’t pretty.

Pittsburgh went toe-to-toe with the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs and watched as Patrick Mahomes, who threw for 320 yards with three touchdowns, stuffed the Steelers’ stockings with coal at Acrisure Stadium. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, meanwhile, didn’t hold back when assessing the team’s 29-10 loss and dropping to 10-6 on the season.

“That sucked, to be blunt,” Tomlin told reporters, per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “Not the type of ball we want to play and really kind of eerily similar to our last performance in that we’re not doing the fundamental things well enough.”

The Steelers had their chance to shake off back-to-back losses to the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles, but Kansas City head coach Andy Reid embraced the role of Pittsburgh’s Grinch and stole its hope. Reid, Mahomes and the Chiefs used the Steelers as their stepping stone and locked the top seed in the AFC for the fourth time in seven seasons.

It wasn’t the most promising sign for a Steelers team that was active in the trade market and invested in hopes of competing with the top dogs in the AFC. Pittsburgh’s defense has surrendered five touchdowns while failing to record a single interception, posing reasons for late-season worries heading into the playoffs.

Pittsburgh, second in the AFC North, sits right behind 11-5 Baltimore with two weeks left to leap ahead of the Ravens and secure the top of the division.

“We regressed in terms of our turnover culture, in terms of maintaining possession of the ball and getting the ball,” Tomlin said, per Pryor. “We’ve been a plus group in most instances, and that’s really been a catalyst for us in terms of the games unfolding the way that we desire. The last two weeks in particular, we haven’t been (plus) in that area. We’ve been minus in that area, and so the results are what they are.”

With a chance at the division crown slipping away from Pittsburgh, and an ongoing quarterback controversy centering around Russell Wilson’s age-36 season, the Steelers need to find an urgent response before Week 18.

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