Hell In December

Jordan DeFigio, @fidgenewton

SteelerNation.com

5-9: the Pittsburgh Steelers' December record over the last three seasons.

1-3: the Pittsburgh Steelers' record in December of 2020.

12/1/2009: the exact date Mike Tomlin promised to unleash hell in December after the first three-game losing streak of his head coaching career.

Hell sure has been unleashed in December. But it's been heaped on the heads of the guys in black and gold, not by their hands on their opponents.

The 27-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals will go down as one of the worst losses in Ben Roethlisberger's career. I mean, it already has. I chalked it up as his most embarrassing performance during the game.

In the first half.

In the first QUARTER.

Specifics there are irrelevant. But what ISN'T irrelevant is how they looked. And how they talked afterward. And how those two things seem so inherently disconnected. There are only so many times you can say "we didn't play well enough" without it translating to on-field results before everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, starts to wonder whether this team actually has what it takes to make it to the Super Bowl.

Or even, I don't know, win a single freaking playoff game.

They sure don't look like they're capable of that giving up plays like this.

No, that isn't Lamar Jackson. That's third-string quarterback Ryan Finley, a guy the Bengals weren't even sure they wanted to start. Totally exploiting holes in one of the top three defenses in the league. He ultimately went 7 for 13 for 89 yards and 1 touchdown through the air and rushed for 47 yards and 1 touchdown.

All things considered, the defense did what they could with what little they had. The far more alarming stat-line was this: Roethlisberger was 20 for 38 for 170 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, a completion percentage of 52.6 and a QBR of 15.1, which sounds like a  joke. But it isn't.

That is all tragically real.

On the same day he committed to returning in 2021 to play through his contract (which will carry a cap hit of a measly $41,250,000), he took to the field and gave one of the most lifeless, uninspired, and oblivious performances of his 17 year hall-of-fame caliber career.

The Steelers' woes have nothing to do with JuJu Smith-Schuster's TikTok videos. They have nothing to do with the egregious amount of injuries to the front seven. Hell, they even have very little to do with Randy Fichtner at this point.

They have everything to do with not only the lack of heart on the offensive line, but also the inability of Mike Tomlin to tell Ben Roethlisberger he is NOT a part of the coaching staff. And he has to work with (and perhaps even more importantly, work UNDER the authority of) both Randy Fichtner and Matt Canada to strategize and execute a gameplan that works for the team instead of suiting his own interests. Because, good GOD we have to face the music, his interests are not working for this offense. The dink-and-dunk, quick-release, shotgun-every-damn-play scheme is sinking the team. And it's so evidently sinking their morale and any chance they have at winning in the postseason.

This team is far from unleashing hell on anyone but themselves. And that's because the hierarchy is so out of sorts that when everyone says the right things and takes the blame, no one actually knows how to pinpoint the real problem. Eventually Mike Tomlin is going to have to take the reins and lead the team. Something has to change, something's gotta give.

And this team only has two weeks to figure it out.

What's one change you'd like to see the Steelers make this week against the Colts? Let us know in the comments below.

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