Madden Monday: Mike Tomlin and the Steelers’ defense are the ‘biggest reasons the team lost in Indianapolis’

The Pittsburgh Steelers, as away favorites, lost 27:24 in Indianapolis on Sunday and lost 3:1. On this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of TribLive and 105.9 The X said the reasons for the surprise were pretty simple.

It starts with the head coach.

“(Mike) Tomlin today and the defense, the two things that everyone talks about – the elite defense and the great ‘Coach T’ – they were the two main reasons the team lost,” Madden said.

On the defensive end, Madden criticized Tomlin and coordinator Teryl Austin for being heavy-handed in their pass-rush plans, particularly when Joe Flacco took over at quarterback for the injured Anthony Richardson.

“I thought the defense was terribly passive,” Madden said. “I don’t think they were aggressive at all. They were somehow relaxed. And I thought it was everywhere in Flacco. I didn’t see anything exotic in defense.

“Do you know what they have to do? You have to move (TJ) Watt. They need to have watts and set up in different locations. This is how other top pass rushers find opportunities when they are constantly being chipped and getting mixed up on two teams. Why isn’t Teryl Austin doing this?”

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As for Tomlin, Madden didn’t like some of his coaching decisions, including the fact that he didn’t use his third timeout late in the contest when the team snapped the ball with the clock running on what turned out to be a game-winning fourth down.

Tomlin argued that he wanted to save the timeout for later and keep the defense off balance without having the chance to sub out after Najee Harris was shot downfield on third down.

“Yeah,” Madden said when I asked him if he called a timeout before fourth down. “I don’t know what else to add. I think this is so obvious that there is no debate. That the defense has a chance to replace them? That’s him making up an excuse to screw it up.”

Madden says we shouldn’t let the offense down either. The start was terrible, with only one field goal made before halftime. It was the fourth straight week that Arthur Smith’s unit failed to score more than 10 points in the first half.

“I don’t think the offense looks better or different under (Smith). I don’t think there will be any shortages. I don’t think the running game is powerful or dynamic. The only saving grace was (Justin) Fields,” Madden said. “Justin Fields shouldn’t be the saving grace of the offense. It should look different than last year’s offense. I don’t see much different than (Matt) Canada’s offense other than the formation – more tight ends.”

Also on the podcast, Madden and I take a deeper look into Fields’ day, we preview next week’s game against the Dallas Cowboys, we take a look at the Pirates’ embarrassing week at the end of their 2024 regular season, and we leave the Paul Skenes’ all-too-short excursion is reviewed at Yankee Stadium.