Ramon Foster Detailed "Silver Bullets" Steelers' Mike Tomlin May Not Escape "All Of That Also Goes Up Top"

The Pittsburgh Steelers have not had the season they were expecting in 2023. They rode the high of a near perfect offseason into Week 1 where they crashed and burned against the San Francisco 49ers. Most everyone shook that initial loss off. After all, the 49ers appeared to be an odds-on favorite for postseason success. While Pittsburgh's offense looked abysmal, they pulled out wins for the next two games, largely thanks to the defense. But sustained success and positive growth have alluded them all season. Now one former Steelers offensive guard, Ramon Foster, answers exactly what he thinks took Head Coach Mike Tomlin down. 

When Tomlin became the Steelers head coach in 2007, he inherited an outstanding quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger. For the majority of his career, finding a franchise quarterback wasn't on his to-do list. Roethlisberger had already won the Steelers one Super Bowl and helped keep the team in the hunt every season. While some insist that Bill Cowher left Tomlin a ready-made team, Tomlin has shown that he is capable of finding, managing, and recruiting talent. 

As Roethlisberger's career wound down, there became concerns about who would take over under center. When he announced he was retiring at the end of 2021, the concerns increased because the quarterback draft class for 2022 was not a strong one. There was hope that the Steelers would trade for a strong, proven quarterback instead of drafting one. But "Pickett-mania" was at an all-time high as Kenny Pickett had a strong final season at the University of Pittsburgh. Many of the fans loved the idea of keeping him at "home."    

Steelers' Mike Tomlin Took Too Many Bullets

Now, Foster co-hosts a podcast called The Ramon Foster Show with Pittsburgh sports reporter, Dejan Kovacevic. It airs on DK Pittsburgh Sports. On a recent episode, they discussed the outcry to fire Tomlin. Foster said that he believes that something big has to change for the team to move forward and get back to winning. 

Foster said no matter how bad anything is, he never questions Tomlin's desire to win. As for what went wrong, Foster isolates two "silver bullets." He thinks that there were just so many negative straws getting piled on the proverbial camel's back, that now it is broken and Tomlin might not be able to repair it. 

"Picking Kenny in a low quarterback year may have been the silver bullet that did him in. Making Matt Canada his offensive coordinator might have been the second silver bullet if that one didn't hit. Not changing Dan Moore, choosing not to use Jaylen Warren, not finding a stable enough D-line to stay on the field, not finding [a Ryan] Shazier replacement after all these years. All of that also goes up top. Those are Coach Tomlin's issues. Now, whether he gets grace behind that, who knows? But if there's a change to be made, I've never seen one be so wide open than it ever has been right now."

The Steelers did fire Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada after the atrocious loss to the Cleveland Browns during Week 11. But it might have been too little, too late. The team did show signs of life in Week 12 when they beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 16-10. Unfortunately, what has gotten us to the point we are in now is the fact that they dropped the next three games to teams they were favored to beat.

This certainly makes it appear like the problems did not stop with Canada. Unfortunately, Pickett was injured during the Week 13 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, so it has been hard to evaluate his talent without Canada calling the plays. But the game and a half we saw, despite winning one, wasn't flawless.

Despite being 7-7, the Steelers still have a small shot of making the playoffs. They will need to win their final games. They currently have a 4.9% chance of making it to the postseason according to CBS Sports Research. Currently, at 10th place in the AFC standings, they will need to knock out Indianapolis and the Houston Texans. Those two teams, who both beat Pittsburgh this season already, play each other, so that will automatically eliminate one of them. 

So Pittsburgh needs some help, but have to focus on their own games one win at a time. After players announced all week that the game against the Colts was a "playoff game," it doesn't feel promising. We will have to wait and see if Tomlin can unite this very fractured team and find a path to success. 

What do you think about Foster's comments? How do you view Tomlin's time in Pittsburgh? Click to comment below!      

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