Mike Tomlin isn't happy.
The Steelers gave fans a lump of coal on Christmas with a disappointing performance, losing 29-10 at home to the Chiefs, their third straight loss in 10 days.
Prior to Wednesday's loss, they lost to the Eagles and Ravens, with all three losses coming against fierce competition, but the Steelers (10-6), who are in the playoffs, have lost all three by double digits. It looks like he's not ready to play in the Super Bowl.
“Honestly, it sucked,” Tomlin told reporters after Wednesday's loss. “It's not the type of ball we want to play and it was eerily similar to our last performance in that we didn't do the fundamentals well enough.”
That wasn't all.
“The bottom line is this is a junior varsity team,” the coach added. “That's not enough. We have to own it.”
The Steelers didn't have an answer for Patrick Mahomes, who led the Chiefs (15-1) to the No. 1 seed in the AFC with the win.
Mahomes went 29-for-38 for 320 yards, three touchdowns, and zero turnovers.
His opponent, Russell Wilson, was 23-for-37 for 205 yards, zero touchdowns, and one interception. Tight end Pat Freiermuth also lost a fumble.
Pittsburgh's loss leaves them one game behind the Ravens, who improved to 11-5 with a dominant victory over the Texans in Game 2 of a Netflix doubleheader on Wednesday in the AFC North with one week remaining.
The Steelers need to beat the Bengals in Week 18, and the Ravens need to lose to the Browns to secure the division and a home game in the wild-card round that comes with it.
“That would be something you'd want to do,” Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith told reporters after the loss. Per ESPN. “We don't have enough of it right now. There's got to be a desire for it. It's a time of year where we definitely have two games left. Let's find out who wants this. Who's in this room?” That's what everyone wants. That's the only way we can move forward and get better.”
