The Pittsburgh Steelers are 6-6 after the brutal home loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Fans were the big story after the game, with Pittsburgh staple ‘Renegade' getting booed and chants of “Fire Tomlin” raining down. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin told Will Graves of The Associated Press that he agrees with the fans.
“In general, I agree with them, from this perspective: Football is our game, we’re in a sport entertainment business. And so if you root for the Steelers, entertaining them is winning. And so when you’re not winning, it’s not entertaining.” Tomlin continued, “If you’ve been in this business, you understand that, and so I respect it. I share frustrations, I understand what makes this thing go, and winning is what makes this thing go.”
The Steelers are still in position to make the playoffs as the AFC North champion. They are tied with the Baltimore Ravens at 6-6, with their first matchup of the season coming up on Sunday. A win would put all of the pressure on Baltimore and could save Tomlin's job. But the opposite would make this conversation even louder.
The Steelers took multiple key penalties that gave the Bills free yardage and helped their offense win the game. Tomlin says that is one of the things he takes the blame for. “I own the responsibility of making sure that these guys understand a component of being a tough team to beat is not beating ourselves,” Tomlin said. “We had some penalties, and certainly you’re gonna have penalties when you play. But penalties of the 15-yard variety, loss of composure, and things of that nature hadn’t been us. And so that needs to be corrected immediately.”
The Steelers and Ravens both need to sweep the season series to win the division convincingly. That starts in week 14.
