They said Mike Tomlin was the problem. The Super Bowl-winning coach lost his fastball. Six straight playoff losses without a single win was on him.
Because results speak for themselves, it was hard to argue against. Anyone with two eyes could see those Pittsburgh Steelers teams weren’t actually good enough to contend. But when a coach goes a decade without winning a playoff game, maybe it is time for a change. Maybe Tomlin was spending too much time on Minecraft.
The problem with that logic, of course, is it assumes someone else would have done better under similar circumstances. Looking at the way the team has been built, it's hard to make that case. Pittsburgh’s latest perplexing move came Wednesday when the team traded Joey Porter Jr. to the Dallas
Cowboys.
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How does it make sense to dump top talent for draft picks when Aaron Rodgers is your quarterback? When you continue to kick the can of finding a franchise quarterback down the road? Re-signing a 42-year-old and hiring his old coach Mike McCarthy to replace Tomlin meant the Steelers weren’t ready to fold — they were still all-in for a championship push (laughable, I know). Trading your top cornerback sends the opposite message.
TRADE GRADES: How did Cowboys and Steelers do in Porter deal?
Porter, who has been out with back pain since training camp but seems to be better now, wanted a new deal before entering the final season of his rookie contract. Pittsburgh apparently wasn’t prepared to meet the price Porter was asking for, and because the team doesn't negotiate in-season, talks ended. That’s how we got here.
If the Steelers weren’t prepared to pay top-of-the-market money, why not trade Porter before the season when they wouldn't have seemed as desperate and might have been able to get a piece to help Rodgers in his final year. Doing it now left Pittsburgh no leverage, which is why a 2028 pick was the best they could do.
As The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo detailed, this is how the Steelers and GM Omar Khan do business. They’re stingy with guaranteed money and let contract talks drag until the final second, as was the case with Cameron Heyward, T.J. Watt and Pat Freiermuth in recent years. And when they don’t pay, they get pennies on the dollar, like a third-round pick for George Pickens, who also landed with Dallas. More importantly, the Steelers never seem to find adequate replacements.
I'm no expert, but this seems like an aimless approach to building a team that needs to be great everywhere else if it can't be good at quarterback. Either pay players to win now or get ahead of trades and build for the future. That apparent lack of direction is what’s held Pittsburgh back all these years, more than anything.
NFL Week 4 picks
We're already almost a quarter of the way through the 2026 NFL season, as Week 4 kicks off tonight with a game between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers. FTW has you covered with predictions for all the action.
➕ Our Week 4 picks against the spread includes some surprise optimism around the Browns on Thursday night... or maybe that's just Steelers doubt.
🔵 Jameis Winston's second start for the Giants caused some disagreement on New York's game against the Cardinals as part of our straight-up picks for the week. Jaguars-Bengals was a tough call too.
🧀 As for survivor players, the best option for Week 4 pool might be putting blind faith in a Packers team that looked awful last week.
🏈 Don't forget to check out my favorite touchdown bets for Steelers-Browns tonight, which I expect to feature the running backs. Also, here's fantasy advice on whether to start receivers DK Metcalf and Denzel Boston.
Quick hits: Jayden Daniels update ... more trade destinations ... and more
- Jayden Daniels might be returning to the field sooner than expected. The way Washington is managing his elbow injury seems like a blueprint to breaking a franchise QB, Robert Zeglinski wrote.
- The White Sox are moving on after sweeping the Astros, and Munetaka Murakami's post-win interviews continue to be the best part about it.
- Ted Lasso fans mourned the death of a beloved character in the show's latest episode. Take that as your spoiler warning.
- We've got four more possible landing spots for Tyreek Hill after the wide receiver tweeted a potential hint about his next move. We also re-upped our list of potential destinations for Marvin Harrison Jr. with trade rumors swirling again.
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This article originally appeared on For The Win: The non-sensical Joey Porter Jr. trade proves Mike Tomlin wasn't the Steelers' problem
