Tim Benz: Jerome Bettis' critique of Mike Tomlin's offense should resonate

In his post-retirement life, former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis has done his fair share of media work at ESPN, NBC and locally at WPXI.

At no point has anyone ever labeled Bettis a “hot-take artist.” At no point has The Bus garnered the reputation of a flamethrower, spewing loud opinions just in the name of gaining traction online.

Sadly, based on how our business currently operates, if he did that more often, maybe he would’ve acquired (and held onto) more high-profile gigs in the industry.

But because Bettis isn’t one to gaslight just for the sake of attention and clicks, the fact that he recently did have a very pointed and specific critique of Mike Tomlin’s offensive track record did catch my attention.

During a recent appearance on “The Herd” on Fox Sports, host Colin Cowherd advanced an opinion that — while appreciating Tomlin’s overall coaching acumen — the Steelers’ long-time bench boss may have a blind spot when it comes to the evolution of modern offense.

“Is it a fair criticism of Mike that he is a defensive mind — (he has) a defensive culture — (and that) the league has pivoted strongly, and that he has sometimes made mistakes or missed on offense?” Cowherd asked Bettis.

“One hundred percent. I believe that is the case,” Bettis quickly replied.

Wow. I was expecting, “Well, that’s not quite how I would say it” or a “I wouldn’t phrase it that way” from Bettis. Especially because the question from Cowherd was a direct criticism of Tomlin. But The Bus rumbled right through that answer like it was the Bengals defense in 1997.

“When you look at the team, you say, ‘What’s the strength of this team?’ Ninety percent of the NFL the strength of your football team is going to be your offense,” Bettis continued. “We look at this team, and they’ve got the pieces to be special. They’ve got a great tight end (Pat Freiermuth). They’ve got two wide receivers (George Pickens and Diontae Johnson). They’ve got a running back (Najee Harris). They’ve got it all. They’ve got a quarterback (Kenny Pickett). The question mark is what type of offense are we, and it’s been a question mark for the last three years. You don’t know what they are.”

In other words, Bettis likes the pieces on the Steelers offense. But the mission statement on that side of the ball is missing. The identity of the offense is unclear. The foundational schematics are lacking.

In my opinion, that has to come from coaching. Based on Bettis’ immediate answer to Cowherd’s direct question, it sounds like the Hall of Famer agrees. It also sounds like Bettis is optimistic about Pickett’s potential for growth.

“I like him because we saw in the last four weeks of the season his development, and he started to go out and win football games,” Bettis told Cowherd. “That’s a hard thing to do in the NFL for a young, rookie quarterback to go out on the last drive of the game and drive your team down the field to a winning touchdown or field goal, and he did it four times at the end of the year. You’ve got to be special to do that. That’s not something that’s in the handbook. You’ve got to be special to make those plays and he made them.”

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To be fair, as Bettis was tossing rose petals around the Steelers offensive huddle, you’ll notice he didn’t mention the offensive line. Yes, that position can certainly stand to improve.

However, I’d argue that group far exceeded the low expectations most of us had for it at the start of the season and actually became a functional, perhaps even above-average, unit by current NFL standards.

The answers have to come from Tomlin and offensive coordinator Matt Canada. They have to cultivate an offense that can take care of the ball in the manner it did over the last nine weeks of the season, but also incorporate some more high-reward plays and overall point production.

The 2023 Steelers offense doesn’t have to be about throwing Pickett into the deep end of the pool. But Canada does need to take off the water wings. For instance, give him some more freedom once he gets to the line of scrimmage.

Pickens has to be more than Mr. Frye’s Ferrari in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Canada and Tomlin have to let him open the throttle around the city instead of just gazing at him in the garage.

“Ferris, he never drives it. He just rubs it with a diaper. Remember how insane he went when I broke my retainer?”

Freiermuth is 6-foot-5, 258 pounds. There has to be a way to get him more than two touchdown receptions in the red zone.

Maybe if Johnson was schemed into plays so he can catch the ball in open space, he’d be less inclined to run backward four yards, in hopes of gaining two yards after every catch.

You know, little things like that.

Bettis is pretty much the last person in the world who would’ve said those comments in an effort to get a reaction. But that doesn’t mean that Tomlin and Canada shouldn’t react to them.

Because they were true.