ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Mike Tomlin has lost more important games. A Super Bowl and an AFC championship game spring to mind.
He just hasn’t lost one by such a lopsided margin in his 16 years as Pittsburgh Steelers coach.
Tomlin presided over a 38-3 defeat to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Highmark Stadium that was the worst by the franchise in 33 years. Not since the Steelers were shut out 51-0 by the Cleveland Browns in the 1989 season opener has the franchise suffered a defeat by a larger deficit.
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Not even Tomlin’s predecessor, Bill Cowher, had a 35-point loss in his 15 seasons as Steelers coach.
“No need to sugarcoat it,” Tomlin said Sunday after the Steelers dropped to 1-4 with their fourth consecutive loss. “We got handled. We got handled by a very good football team.”
Mike Tomlin “no need to b sugarcoat this” pic.twitter.com/k1juAe3sJk
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) October 9, 2022
The Steelers were held to three points for the first time since the 2019 season opener when New England beat them 33-3. The 552 yards allowed by the defense was the most against the Steelers since 2013 when the Patriots put up 610 yards in 55-31 defeat.
The Steelers lost by 31 points last season to Cincinnati, 41-10, and to Philadelphia, 34-3, in 2016. Those served as the largest margin of victories against a Tomlin-coached team until Sunday, when Josh Allen threw four touchdown passes in the first half to stake the Bills to a 31-3 lead.
Worst margins of defeat for Steelers over the past 33 seasons:
31 points, 11/28/21 at CIN
31 points, 9/25/16 at PHIL
30 points, 9/8/19 at NENotice how the worst 4 (assuming something changing today) all have come over the past 7 seasons, 3 of the worst 4 over the past 4 years
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) October 9, 2022
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