Mike Tomlin’s Reaction to the Pittsburgh Steelers Being 11-0 Isn’t What You’d Expect

The Pittsburgh Steelers have bounced back from last year’s 8-8 season by winning their first 11 games of the 2020 season. They are five wins away from running the table in the regular season. The Steelers secured win No. 11 in a rare Wednesday afternoon game against their rival Baltimore Ravens. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin certainly wasn’t doing cartwheels over the possibility of an undefeated season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are inching toward perfection

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The Pittsburgh Steelers are five games away from a perfect regular season. They haven’t been overly impressive lately, but they’ve been effective. It’s one of those seasons where everything is breaking right for the Black & Gold even when they haven’t been at their best.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been the difference. After missing 14 games last year with an elbow injury, Big Ben has returned to lead the way for the Steelers. Roethlisberger has definitely made his way into the MVP running after tossing 25 touchdown passes and six interceptions in leading his team to an 11-0 mark.

Of the Steelers’ remaining five games, three are on the road. They travel to the Buffalo Bills in Week 14, the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 15, and then play at the Cleveland Browns in the regular-season finale. Pittsburgh’s two remaining home games are against the Washington Football Team on Monday night and then a Week 16 game against the Indianapolis Colts.

Mike Tomlin has been a staple with the Steelers

Mike Tomlin has been the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers since the 2007 season. During those 14 years in Pittsburgh, he’s never had a losing season. In nine seasons, Tomlin’s teams have won 10 or more games. Last year, Tomlin went 8-8 but that may have been one of his best years as a head coach.

During Week 2 last year, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger went down with an elbow injury. He never returned. When Roethlisberger left, the Steelers were 0-2 and the season appeared to be a waste. Instead, Tomlin found a way to keep his team in the playoff hunt despite being forced to shuffle between Mason Rudolph and Devlin ‘Duck’ Hodges at quarterback.

Tomlin won a Super Bowl as head coach of the Steelers in his second year. Pittsburgh went 12-4 during the regular season. They went on to defeat the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl 43. Two years later, Tomlin and the Steelers returned to the Super Bowl, falling to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl 45.

Tomlin is never satisfied

On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers kept their unbeaten streak alive by beating their rival Baltimore Ravens for the second time this season. The Ravens entered the game very short-handed after a coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Although it wasn’t the prettiest of performances, the Steelers won 19-14 to improve to 11-0.

After the victory, a very frustrated Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin acted as if his team was 0-11. “To be bluntly honest, I’m really disappointed in our performance tonight,” Tomlin said, according to CBS Sports. “We did enough to win tonight, that’s all.” Tomlin then elaborated on what his disappointments were.

“It was in all three phases,” said Tomlin. “We couldn’t run the ball effectively when we needed to and we dropped too many significant passes, very capable, makeable passes. We didn’t make significant plays in the special teams game. Our kickoff coverage unit wasn’t good enough. We turned the (expletive) ball over. We gave up big plays in critical moments on defense. Can’t have it. They converted a long run on a possession down before the half. Unacceptable. They have a 70-yard late in the game. Unacceptable.”