For many Pittsburgh Steelers fans, Thursday night's embarrassing home loss to the New England Patriots signified that the franchise might no longer be a bastion of consistency. Yes, they are 7-6 and right outside the playoff picture, but the last two weeks have been horrifying and not something people are accustomed to seeing from this team.

And really, these issues have been simmering for a while. The offense looks broken, with or without Kenny Pickett, and a banged-up defense is being asked to compensate for those deficiencies far too much. Avoiding a full-blown decline is impressive, but sustained mediocrity is its own issue.

Former NFL scout John Middlekauff thinks the defeat by the Patriots, which comes four days after a laugher against the Arizona Cardinals, should be the nail in the coffin for longtime head coach Mike Tomlin.

“I do think it’s over in Pittsburgh,” he said on his podcast, 3 and Out. “It’s time for a change…You can’t lose to the Cardinals and the Patriots in a four-day span and still be taken seriously, when there were already major question marks. You haven’t won a playoff game in forever. There comes a point in time where we need change. We need to press the reset button.”

Will the Steelers consider a ‘change' if the team does not recover?

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Middlekauff is sure to mention that Tomlin would immediately get scooped up by another team, so he is suggesting a fresh start rather than calling the Super Bowl 43 champion incompetent. To the former Philadelphia Eagles scout's point, Tomlin and the Steelers have not tasted postseason success since the 2016-17 campaign.

Even so, his .631 winning percentage and no losing seasons in 17 years cannot be denied. There are definite problems on the offensive end that Mike Tomlin has failed to correct since the end of the Ben Roethlisberger era, but the organization might feel that he is still the right man to lead Pittsburgh back into prominence.

If the team can awaken from this recent slumber and find a way into the playoffs, then this question will be firmly off the table. But if the Steelers continue their descent, there could at least be some tough conversations that take place in the front office.