Steelers' Mike Tomlin Exposes His Own Constant Challenge Issues With Excuse-Filled Word Salad

The Pittsburgh Steelers had their best offensive performance of the season statistically in Week 12, putting up 421 yards against the Cincinnati Bengals. Despite that, the Steelers only put up 16 points in their victory. They could have had more points with a touchdown pass to Diontae Johnson, but it was ruled incomplete on the play. Replay showed that it was actually a good catch, as Johnson was able to take three steps before going down and losing the ball. Despite that, Mike Tomlin did not challenge the play, and the drive ended on a lost fumble. 

Steelers Lost 7 Points With Tomlin's Refusal To Challenge

Tomlin addressed the situation during his Tomlin Tuesday press conference, and his reasonings were very questionable. He claimed that he has a man that is directly responsible for replays and challenges, then he went on with his reasons for not challenging the play.

"You don't always get an opportunity to get a timely look at things, and particularly as it pertains to scoring plays, oftentimes I proceed with the assumption that if they call it a non-scoring play, then I believe they are not speculating in any way. Obviously, we have automatic replay for scoring plays, and [with] that mechanism, I think if there was any question in their judgement, they probably would have called it a scoring play and allowed the automatic review to happen. Sometimes, when I'm in road stadiums, if I don't get a look or if it's not provided in-stadium, I ride with that premise and that knowing, because I know how games are officiated."

Despite quickly claiming that he has someone in the booth that tells him when to challenge, Tomlin spoke about his own thoughts and methods about why he didn't have the potential touchdown play reviewed. He mentioned that Teryl Austin was once the main replay guy, but he wouldn't specify who is currently in that role. 

With all the technology that teams have, home field advantage should not be too much of a factor for challenges. In fact, the official broadcast will show timely replays of questionable plays, especially if the offense is not hurrying to the line of scrimmage. The Steelers could have an assistant watching the actual broadcast, and it would show that Tomlin should've threw his red flag. 

Tomlin has history with being unable to judge when to challenge a play and when to hang on to the flag. His one successful coach's challenge in several years was in Week 2, when he had the entire 3-minute end-of-quarter commercial break to figure out that his defense created a fumble that the officials did not see. Whether it's Tomlin making the decisions alone or an assistant that handles replays, something needs to change.

Tomlin has made excuses for not making challenges on the road, but that does not explain his lack of understanding of when to challenge during home games as well. What would be his excuse for not knowing when to throw the red flag at Acrisure Stadium? He has replays there, so he does not have to have blind trust in referees like he claims to have. 

Either way, the same themes come up again and again: Tomlin does not understand which plays he should challenge, and which plays he should not. He also refuses to take any sort of accountability for the mistakes he makes. In his mind, it's not his fault that he can only succeed on a challenge when he has 3 minutes to see what happened and make a decision. It didn't cost the Steelers this time, but if he doesn't learn, it could cost them a game or more in the future. 

What do you think about Mike Tomlin's reasoning for refusing to challenge the play, as well as how he has handled potential replays historically? Let us know in the comments.

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