The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered their first loss of the season by the score of 27-24 to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, and although quarterback Justin Fields did some things well, head coach Mike Tomlin said he and the team as a whole were too sloppy in the game to come out with a win.
“I appreciate his fight. But he, and we, were a little bit sloppy at times, too sloppy to comfortably secure victory,” Mike Tomlin said, via Mike DeFabo of The Athletic.
There were a few instances of sloppy play for the Steelers. The first big one was on a throw to George Pickens that would have set up Pittsburgh with a first-and-goal, but then he fumbled the ball to turn it over to the Colts. Later on, Justin Fields fumbled the ball on a shotgun snap, and the Colts recovered. There was also a turnover on downs early on in the game that hurt Pittsburgh's chances as well, digging an early hole.
There were chances for the Steelers to come back, despite being down 17-0 at one point in the game. Pittsburgh's defense, which has been stout so far this season, did not do enough either. It was a culmination of all of the mistakes that led to the narrow loss.
Steelers set for bounce bac- attempt vs Cowboys
After losing a tough game to the Colts this week, the Steelers will host the Dallas Cowboys next week on Sunday Night Football. It will be an interesting test, as the Cowboys have not looked great so far this year, narrowly beating the New York Giants on Thursday Night Football.
It will be interesting to see how the Steelers fare against a Cowboys team that is not up to the standard that they are used to over the last couple of years. It could end up being a defensive battle.
There are winnable games following that as well, as Pittsburgh will play the Las Vegas Raiders, New York Jets and New York Giants in the three games after that before a tougher stretch that includes the Washington Commanders, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals.
Despite the loss, the Steelers are still in a good position at 3-1 on the season. If Pittsburgh wins the games it expects to win down the stretch this season, Mike Tomlin's team could find itself back in the playoffs once again. Hopefully this loss was a blip on the radar.