Not holding back: Coach Mike Tomlin didn't hold back after the Steelers 30-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
"Let's be honest. We're a fundamentally poor football group right now," said Tomlin. "We're playing losing football. And I take responsibility for that. By losing football, I mean, we're just not doing fundamental things well enough. We're not. We're turning the ball over. We're highly penalized. We don't play good in situations. And so, I'm just acknowledging that.
"I don't necessarily have the answers as we sit here today. If I had the answers, we would have played differently today. But I will acknowledge things won't continue the way that they are.
"We're not going to keep doing the same things that we're doing and expect or hope for a different result. And so, we got a seven day turn around. We'll see what those seven days hold for us.
"But I'm just acknowledging right now that we're playing losing football, and I own that. Not a good day."
Tomlin acknowledged that saying 'things won't continue they way that they are' means they will do things differently to get to where they want to be.
"Everything's on the table at this juncture," said Tomlin. "We can't play football like that."
Tomlin pulled quarterback Mitch Trubisky in the fourth quarter for Mason Rudolph, who threw his first pass since the 2021 season.
When asked if Trubisky would start next week against the Bengals, with starter Kenny Pickett still injured, he didn't have an answer.
"Again, I don't have answers as I sit here right now," said Tomlin. "I know that we better do some things differently. We better approach some things differently. We're not going to roll that ball out there like that next week."
The Steelers struggle in multiple areas, including trying to get the run game going and stopping the Colts ground game.
"None of us were good enough starting first and foremost with myself," said Tomlin.
"We just played poorly today. I'm not going to try to explain it or make excuses for it. We didn't play well today in really any area, run game or what have you. We didn't play well enough in any area."
No answers yet: Linebacker T.J. Watt wishes he had the answer to how to fix what is ailing the Steelers right now after they dropped their third straight game.
But Watt, who had two sacks against the Colts, just doesn't right now.
"If I had that answer, I would be able to tell you right now, but I think it's a combination of a lot of things," said Watt. "And that's what we need to figure out and solve as quick as possible moving forward because we have a game in a week.
"I think once I clear my head from this game, and take a moment to think about it, I think I'll have a little bit more clear of an answer."
The Steelers weren't able to stop the Colts ground game as they put up 170 yards on the ground, including running the ball continuously in the fourth quarter.
"They just continued to smash the run and we weren't able to stop it," said Watt. "They were able to continue to dictate what they wanted to do. And when you're not able to stop something, they're going to continue to do it. And that's what you saw."
Watt knew the importance of Saturday's game in the overall playoff picture, but said the team didn't rise to the challenge that was in front of them.
"I told you guys two days ago, every game is a huge game late in the season like this," said Watt. "It's the NFL. It doesn't matter if a team has two wins, three wins, or seven or eight wins. Every week is tough. Every week has its own challenges.
"And it's our job to rise up to the challenges and we didn't do that today."
One challenge the team faced once again was injuries. While they went into the game healthy on defense, they saw their secondary depleted when safety Damontae Kazee was ejected, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick left the game with a knee injury, and fellow safety Trenton Thompson left the game with a stinger, although he was able to return.
Watt didn't blame the injuries, understanding everyone has to step up when called upon.
"When you're in the thick of the game, you don't have time to really think about all that stuff," said Watt. "It's hard to sit there and be like, 'Oh, who's in the game?'
"You just have to keep going. Guys are in the meetings. We're all paid to play football. We all see the hard work that we put in day in and day out.
"So yes, it's difficult. But yes, I do believe in every single guy in that locker room for those reasons."
Not the result they wanted: After Mitch Trubisky started but didn't finish the Steelers' 30-13 loss to the Colts today at Lucas Oil Stadium, head coach Mike Tomlin remained non-committal regarding who starts at quarterback in Kenny Pickett's absence on Dec. 13 against Cincinnati.
Trubisky's initial expectations didn't go beyond his intention to "go back to work, see what they're going to do."
The Steelers will be searching for answers on offense beyond the quarterback position in the days leading up to their final home appearance at Acrisure Stadium in the regular season, answers they didn't have in the immediate aftermath of their third consecutive loss.
"Not this second we don't, but we're going to find them," Trubisky insisted. "We're gonna work tirelessly and come together.
"Leaders gotta step up and we gotta find a way."
Trubisky completed 16 of 23 passes for 169 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He also ran for a 1-yard touchdown.
But the offense never made another dent after his 4-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Diontae Johnson gave the Steelers a13-0 lead with 14:07 left in the second quarter.
Mason Rudolph came on with 2:08 left in regulation and wound up completing two of three passes for 3 yards.
Trubisky was sacked three times and Rudolph once.
"Too many penalties, we can't go backwards," Trubisky lamented. "We gotta play 11 guys as one. We gotta execute better, gotta be better on third downs and we gotta play a complete game. We got off to a fast start today and we didn't do anything in the second half. It's just not good enough and we gotta go back to work to correct it.
"We gotta be better in all facets. I don't know what to say, we scored 13 points pretty quick and then we couldn't get anything going after that. It's just inconsistency."
The objectives for the offense moving forward, individually and collectively, will be to "correct your mistakes, continue to do what you're good at, be fundamentally sound and play together as 11," Trubisky said.
He's confident the Steelers can make the corrections they seek because of the team has "overcome adversity in the past," Trubisky said.
It's staring them in the face again.
"We gotta play four quarters," Trubisky emphasized. "We didn't, we didn't score enough points and we lost.
"Not the result we wanted."
Pro Bowl voting is underway: Voting is now open for the 2024 Pro Bowl Games, the second year for the new-look games.
Fans can vote for their favorite Steelers players now through Dec. 25.
Cast your votes today.
Click on the links to go to the Steelers page and vote for players below as well.
During the final two weeks of voting (Dec. 11 – Dec. 25), fans can vote directly on "X" (formerly Twitter) by tweeting the first and last name of the player, tagging the player's official Twitter handle or creating a hashtag including the player's first and last name. All three of these methods must include the hashtag: #ProBowlVote. During the final two days (Dec. 24 – Dec. 25), social votes will count as double.
