Tim Benz: '4th Quarter Kenny' is making Pittsburgh smile, but Mike Tomlin can't laugh off 1st-half concerns forever

Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin had a smile on his face. There was some levity to his retort.

But as is often the case when someone makes a joke, there’s a lot of truth to it. And there’s usually a message to the delivery.

During his weekly Tuesday press conference, WDVE’s Mike Prisuta asked Tomlin about the “Fourth Quarter Kenny” phenomenon.

Prisuta: “I think Pickett’s quarterback rating is (something) like 75 in the first three quarters. Is there something that’s not happening for him?”

Tomlin: “What is his rating in the fourth quarter?”

Prisuta: “Like … 108.”

Tomlin: “Well, then just ask it from that perspective,” Tomlin responded with a laugh. “He’s awesome in the fourth quarter. He rises up in those moments. He wants to be the reason why we’re successful. He prepares his tail off. In some instances, where people run from challenges, he runs to challenges. And so that’s why his performance is so good in the fourth. Those other quarters … we’ll work on.”

#Steelers HC Mike Tomlin made sure to turn the tables when asked about Kenny Pickett's QB rating in quarters 1-3.

"What is his rating in the 4th quarter...? He's AWESOME in the 4th quarter."

Tomlin standing up for his QB...pic.twitter.com/SF07L8aYT7

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 7, 2023

It was a fairly lighthearted exchange. But don’t let the jocular tone of the banter fool you. Tomlin was very purposeful with that response. I’m sure he knew that kind of question was coming, and I’m sure his desire was to tamp down the talking point of Pickett’s dramatic splits.

Whether he was going to do it sternly or with a playful elbow to the ribs was a game-time decision. In the end, Tomlin got his point across.

Nothing to see here. The real Kenny is “Fourth Quarter Kenny.” That’s the Kenny they drafted in the first round. The guy who keeps white-knuckling last-minute comebacks and gnat’s-eyelash victories in the waning stages of games.

The first three quarters? Pfft! That’s just Kenny getting loose. That’s a cover band before “The Rolling Stones” hit the stage.

At least that’s the narrative that Tomlin is trying to speak into existence. At least that’s what he’s trying to sell to the quarterback, the rest of the team and the fans.

Oh, and let’s not kid ourselves. That was Tomlin trying to sell it to himself as well.

There’s no way Tomlin is genuinely that relaxed about the concept of his offense punting (literally and figuratively) on the first 75% of the game just because he’s so sure Pickett is going to find a phone booth to change into his Superman outfit during the last third-quarter TV timeout.

Come to think of it, is there even a phone booth standing on the North Shore anymore? Has there been one in 25 years?

Wherever it might be, Pickett keeps finding it. He’s found plenty on the road too. Prisuta’s numbers were spot on. Pickett’s fourth-quarter passer rating is 108.5 this year, fourth best in the NFL. His passer rating over the first three quarters is 75.3. That’s a frightening 27th out of 31 quarterbacks with at least 100 passing attempts.

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Based on a lot of what we saw toward the end of last season, it’s a trend that has carried over from 2022 as well.

I’m sure Prisuta appreciated Tomlin’s “Journalism 101” advice about how to ask his question. But Prisuta — purposefully — wasn’t asking the question Tomlin wanted to answer. Prisuta didn’t ask, “Golly, Mike, why is Kenny so gosh-darned good in the fourth quarter?”

Appropriately, Prisuta asked why Pickett hasn’t been better in the first three. It’s clear Tomlin doesn’t have an answer. That’s why he was being intentionally dismissive when he said, “Those other quarters … we’ll work on.”

They better. And fast. Because this fourth-quarter razor’s edge routine Pickett is pulling off doesn’t feel sustainable for 17 weeks. At some point, all the stars aren’t going to align in the final 15 minutes.

At some point, Chris Boswell may actually miss a field goal. At some point, Jaylen Warren or Najee Harris may fumble. Or one of the receivers might drop a touchdown.

Look at Thursday’s 20-16 win over the Tennessee Titans. Instead of making that game-saving interception, what if Kwon Alexander had become the third Steeler to drop a sure pick on the Titans’ last offensive drive? And then what if Will Levis completes a TD pass to eventually win the game on the final throw?

It wouldn’t have been Pickett’s fault that the defense allowed that hypothetical game-ending touchdown. But it would’ve been the product of the Steelers only scoring 20 points, largely because Pickett had been wildly inaccurate in the first half of that game.

Do you remember the Monday after the Steelers lost to Jacksonville two weeks ago? Tomlin said this about all the shaky officiating calls from that game.

“It is our desire to win definitively, where potentially controversial calls are less significant. That’s what good teams do,” Tomlin said. “That’s what elite teams do. It’s our desire to be a good and elite team so that we’re not as flimsy and become a component of some debatable calls and things of that nature.”

Well, constantly entering the fourth quarter with the game in doubt because your quarterback has been lousy for the first 45 minutes sounds like a pretty “flimsy” formula to me.

But I’m sure Tomlin would prefer I didn’t frame things “from that perspective.”

Listen: Tim Benz and Joe Rutter recap Mike Tomlin’s press conference in advance of Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.