The Pittsburgh Steelers are currently in a freefall.
Pittsburgh has lost three straight games to go from 7-4 to 7-7 and is now in last place in the AFC North, making the playoffs feel very unlikely.
Steelers wide receiver George Pickens has come under fire this week after a clip emerged of him not blocking a defender that would have led to a touchdown for running back Jaylen Warren.
Pickens said he didn’t block because he wanted to avoid injury, leading to Warren saying he would have blocked for Pickens.
ESPN’s Ryan Clark, who spent eight of his 13 career seasons playing for Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers, addressed the team’s most significant problems on Thursday on NFL Live.
Ryan Clark, who played under Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh, shares his thoughts on the persistent problem with Steelers wide receivers and the recent George Pickens situation. https://t.co/JF7TvF1kK0 pic.twitter.com/RM2TKmqv5x
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 21, 2023
“It’s very rare that Mike Tomlin speaks extra. He was only supposed to speak twice this week but stepped up to address this issue. This is a team that now talks more when they lose than when they win. When you lose, you should keep your mouth shut and get to work,” Clark said. “There is no excuse for lack of effort; there’s no reason for not putting your all into the game,” he said.
Clark also brought up the locker room issues the Steelers have had over the past few years, particularly regarding wide receivers. In doing so, he seemingly blames a chronic lack of cohesion and accountability in the Steelers’ wide receiver room for their recent struggles, pointing to a “cancer” within the group that needs immediate remedy.
“The other piece of it for me is the state of the room, the wide receiver room. From Antonio Brown to JuJu to Chase Claypool to Diontae and now to George Pickens, there’s been a cancer in that room. I don’t know how it started. I don’t know if it’s Coach Tomlin’s ability or willingness to let you be authentically you, but something needs to change. What’s happened generation to generation, era to era, year to year in that room has been unacceptable,” Clark concluded.
With dwindling playoff hopes, Saturday’s showdown against the Bengals could be the ultimate test of whether the Steelers can pull themselves out of their nosedive or succumb to a full-blown crash.
