Steelers' Mike Tomlin Emphasized Greatest Weakness During Mini-Bye Week

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a lot of issues that they need to clean up if they want to get through this gauntlet of a schedule with a division title. The Cincinnati Bengals are next up on the docket, and they will be doing everything they can to try and keep their season alive. They are coming off of a bye week, while the Steelers had a mini-bye after losing on Thursday Night Football to the Cleveland Browns. They may have exposed many of Pittsburgh's issues, but there is still one glaring problem that has been evident throughout the season. 

During his typical Tomlin Tuesdays press conference, Head Coach Mike Tomlin brought up the main issue with the team as a focal point of the extra rest days: red zone efficiency. 

"We had a bonus light day today with our players and really focused on ourselves and a couple areas of play that we feel like we need to sure up: particularly red zone offense and sine red zone defense. As a matter of fact, we treated the last several days as a mini-bye from a staff perspective and took a deep dive in some schematics in those areas, and then turned our attention towards Cincinnati and what they do in those areas all in an effort to make engineering a victory more fluid."

The Steelers have had plenty of struggles as of late with the red zone. They managed to score 10 points on two attempts in that area against the Browns, which is much better than the previous week against the Baltimore Ravens when they had just nine points on four attempts: three field goals and an interception. 

The Steelers currently rank 30th in offensive red zone efficiency, as they have only scored touchdowns on 44.74% of their trips inside the 20. The main problem with it is inconsistency: there have been some games where they were great in the red zone, and others where they have done nothing.

Against the Ravens, the Atlanta Falcons, and the New York Giants, the Steelers had to rely on Chris Boswell a little too much. He kicked a combined 16 field goals in those three games, along with just two team touchdowns. It's great to have an uber-reliable kicker like Boswell, but the Steelers desperately need to give his leg a break.

Then there are games against teams like the Washington Commanders and the New York Jets, where the offense just gets into a rhythm and can't be stopped. 34 of their 37 points against the Jets came in the red zone, as well as 21 points out of 28 against the Commanders. They have the ability to be dominant inside the 20; they just need to be more consistent. 

Steelers Have Underrated Red Zone Issue That Tomlin Also Vowed To Fix

Not only is the Steelers' offense a mess in the red zone, but their defense is too. All 24 points allowed against the Browns came from the red zone. The Steelers have historically relied on a bend-don't-break defense under Tomlin, which means they stop the opposing offense when they need to the most.

The Steelers are currently tied for 11th in terms of defensive efficiency inside the 20, but their last three weeks have been horrific. They have allowed an 88.89% red zone percentage since coming off the bye week. That is terrible for any kind of defense, let alone one that thrives off of allowing field goals instead of touchdowns. 

If the Steelers can't fix those issues, there is no way that they will win the division. The Bengals are no cakewalk, especially with their offensive firepower. This will be a big week for the Steelers. Tomlin vowed to make the proper adjustments, and the upcoming Week 13 game will determine how he and his staff did in that regard.

What do you think about Tomlin taking extra time to try and fix the red zone issues? Let us know in the comments.

#SteelerNation