Although the defense has been nearly as frequently problematic—or terrible—as has the offense, the latter has more often come under fire when discussing the Pittsburgh Steelers’ issues this season. And when the two are equally bad on the same day, you get a 38-3 smashing like on Sunday, the team’s worst loss in decades.
Head coach Mike Tomlin has long been known the have a heavy hand in the defensive game-planning, and long expected of even more. Earlier this year, outgoing defensive coordinator Keith Butler confirmed what had been reported but unconfirmed, which is that Tomlin called most of the plays during games—even into the late stages of the Dick LeBeau era.