During that agonizing 28-0 first quarter of Sunday night’s Steelers playoff loss to the Cleveland Browns, a forlorn fan sent me this tweet.
Starting to feel nostalgic for all those years when we simply failed to make it to the playoffs.
— Rob (@WildernessRob) January 11, 2021
Sir, I hate to say this, but, “Welcome to 1988!” I fear you will be getting your wish soon enough.
And as you will hear in this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of 105.9 The X agrees with me.
“This was the beginning of an even deeper plunge,” Madden said. “They’ve collapsed in each of the last three seasons. Four if you want to count that (2017 playoff) loss to Jacksonville. But next year? Ain’t gonna be no playoffs. Ain’t even gonna come close. Next year, ain’t gonna be no collapse. The collapse will start at the beginning of the season. They will be lucky to be .500 next year.”
Madden is putting the blame squarely at the feet of Ben Roethlisberger and Mike Tomlin.
“Mike Tomlin should be fired, and Ben Roethlisberger should quit. Tomlin was outcoached badly by a guy who wasn’t even there,” Madden said referring to Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski. He was barred from being on the sideline because of a positive covid-19 test.
“I see people online saying it’s not Tomlin’s fault. There’s never been a game that’s Tomlin’s fault more. Between two gutless decisions on fourth down and starting Matt Feiler at left guard (instead of Kevin Dotson), he was just terrible. He was clueless. It was as if he had never coached before.”
Mark and I don’t limit our criticism to the coach and quarterback, though. We also focus on the flailing defense, specifically Minkah Fitzpatrick and T.J. Watt. They may be sacred cows to some. But not to us.
We also put both coordinators, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Terrell Edmunds on blast.
Then we look at the start of the Penguins season, deep dive into the potential divisional brackets, and discuss the final episode of the new “Cobra Kai.”
Psst! Spoiler alerts!
Listen: Tim Benz and Mark Madden wrap up the Steelers’ bad playoff loss to the Browns
