Mike Tomlin Didn’t Hold Back on What’s Hurting the Steelers the Most This Season

Mike Tomlin didn’t hold back about the struggling Steelers. | @NBC

Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers’ offense are looking for answers after getting off to a slow start to the 2026 season. So far they have scored just one touchdown in two games and were only able to put three points on the board in Sunday’s loss on the road to the Patriots.

While they’ll need to figure things out in a hurry with the Bengals coming to town in Week 3, one man who is very familiar with the famed franchise knows exactly what’s wrong with the unit.

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Mike Tomlin, who coached the Steelers for 19 years before parting ways with the team last January, shared his thoughts on Pittsburgh’s struggles thus far during NBC’s Sunday Night Football pregame show last night. And he didn’t hold back.

“You know, from my perspective they don’t have a place to hang their hat,” Tomlin said. “They haven’t established the run, they’re not performing well enough on third-down and possession-down circumstances and to make matters worse, they’re not getting yards in chunks. And sometimes when you get yards in chunks it can cover up some other inadequacies. So they can’t solve all of their problems, but they better solve at least one of these problems, and really soon.”

Mike Tomlin just took the Steelers offense to task on Football Night in America.

I love it. pic.twitter.com/Q2INKjwMPx

— Dom DiTommaso (@DomDiTommaso) September 21, 2026

Tomlin wasn’t wrong, the Steelers have been dreadful on third downs this year, converting on just 5-of-25 chances. Rodgers had a rough day against the Patriots as he lost two fumbles, including one that was returned for a touchdown, and he also threw a late interception which wasn’t really his fault.

Rodgers was frustrated after the loss and seemed to throw his coaching staff under the bus a bit over play calls.

“Can’t feel sorry for ourselves. Can’t point fingers. We’ve all got to play better,” Rodgers said. “I think we can all give a little more. The best teams are player-led teams. So we’ve got to keep taking the ownership. In a game like today where there wasn’t a lot of flow to it, we need to be better, and that starts with me at making sure Mike [McCarthy] knows what’s working, what’s not working, our coaches know, so we can call stuff that we feel like has a better chance.”

Aaron Rodgers on vocalizing what's not working to the coaching staff. pic.twitter.com/Bq0hvnFMDk

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 21, 2026

Rodgers, of course, has played for McCarthy before as the two teamed up in Green Bay for years and won a Super Bowl together way back in 2011. The Steelers hoped bringing them back together would lead to good things for the offense but that isn’t happening yet. At all.

McCarthy spoke about the team’s struggles on offense after Sunday’s loss.

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“As an offensive coach, I always welcome the opportunity to play against pressure defense,” McCarthy said after Sunday’s loss in New England. “I think it's clearly an opportunity for big-play potential. That was not the case today. We didn’t answer the bell. Our protections weren’t clean. We had opportunities, whether it was communication and breakdowns, clearly in the first half that took away some opportunities for big plays. The run game was a little bit herky-jerky.”

So far T.J. Watt, with his pick-six against the Falcons in Week 1, has as many touchdowns as Pittsburgh’s offense. That is not good.

Next up for the Steelers is a home game this Sunday against Joe Burrow and the 2-0 Bengals, who are coming off a dominant road win over the Texans in Week 2. It’s not going to get any easier for Rodgers & Co. and if they don’t figure things out soon, the 2026 season could quickly get away from them.

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