Steelers' Mike Tomlin Exposed For Questionable Priorities As New Rookie Head Coach Enlightens Rest Of NFL

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been difficult to watch at times over the last few years. The offense has been stagnant, as it has struggled to stay on the football field for what feels like the past three years, and the defense has been inconsistent. The roster is just good enough to be on the fringe of making the postseason every year, which always leads to an embarrassing playoff loss. Fans are tired of the same mediocrity, and many in Pittsburgh are begging the organization to adapt as the rest of the league does.

Advanced analytics has taken over the NFL, for better or for worse. It at least gives organizations a better understanding of the game and the way things are trending. The NFL used to be a league where as long as a team won the turnover battle and had the most time of possession, that team would likely win that game. This is the formula Mike Tomlin and the Steelers are still using to this day, and it is evident every time Pittsburgh plays a game.

New Chicago Bears Head Coach Ben Johnson spoke to the media at the NFL's annual league meeting, and he shared some revealing insight into the biggest statistics that decides games in today's NFL during a video from Bears insider Adam Hoge.

"The way I understand it right now, from our analytics team, the EPA in the passing game is really one of the most critical factors in determining wins and losses," Johnson said. "That's probably changed over the last five years or so, I would have said five years ago turnovers and takeaways, that was number one. I understand now that EPA in the passing game has now surpassed that. Whichever team has the higher passing EPA at the end of the game, they win the game, it's over 80% of the time."

EPA stands for expected points added per play, and it is essentially a statistic measuring how much value a team is adding in specific instances. There is an EPA statistic for an entire offense that can tell how efficient the unit is on a play-to-play basis, while teams can also break it down into run or pass plays, specific areas of the field, or certain down and distances.

Pittsburgh struggles in EPA. According to Sumer Sports, during the 2024 season, the offense placed 21st in total EPA at -0.05, 19th in pass EPA at zero, and 28th in rush EPA at -0.09. For reference, the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, and Washington Commanders all finished near the top of the league in these categories. It has been proven time and time again that this is a statistic teams need to excel in if they want to find success, and Pittsburgh hasn't not been able to do that.

This also comes down to personnel and talent. It isn't entirely Tomlin's fault that his philosophy is what it is, he has to work with what he has. However, he plays a large role in all roster decisions. He could have been building his team in a way that it could excel in the current era of the NFL, but instead there is a struggle year after year.

Steelers Have Not Done Themselves Any Favors

The Steelers have had the highest-paid defense for multiple consecutive seasons, and sometimes the unit looks dominant. Unfortunately for the Steelers, that doesn't usually happen against the best teams in the league. The NFL is offense-centric, and the Steelers are stuck in the past. There were instances in 2024 where the defense struggled against Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Kansas City. Those are the teams that need to be beaten in order to hoist the seventh Lombardi Trophy. 

The roster needs to be more balanced in Pittsburgh, and this is something the organization could have addressed earlier if it had been more mindful of the ever-changing ways of the NFL.

Pittsburgh could be heading in the right direction after the offseason addition of DK Metcalf, but it will be interesting to see if the 2025 season is just the same thing all over again.

What do you think about Johnson's point? Let us know in the comments below!

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