Winning in the NFL often hides late-game mistakes, but Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy’s clock management inside the five-yard line nearly surrendered a victory to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before Pittsburgh escaped with a 26-19 overtime win.
Late in regulation, after securing a critical turnover inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line, Pittsburgh had an ideal opportunity to milk the clock, drain Tampa Bay's remaining timeouts, and kick a game-clinching field goal or score a touchdown. Instead, McCarthy opted for aggressive passing plays that fell incomplete. The stopped clock preserved Tampa Bay’s timeouts and left just enough time for a game-tying drive before regulation expired.
The questionable sequence drew immediate scrutiny on the
“Steelers Squad Show.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Christopher Carter pointed out the breakdown in situational logic against a young opponent.
"I did think that you're in the situation where you wanted to put that rookie under the tightest opportunity to succeed," Carter explained. "And I did think it was a misstep to try to throw the ball there. Pound them. If you score, great. If you don't, you kick a field goal, you take a lead, and you take away all their timeouts."
Co-host Ben Bobick agreed that while taking a shot on first down was defensible, failing to run on subsequent downs ignored basic game theory. Co-host Bobby Missos was even more direct about the mistake.
"You run the ball. It's not algebra. It's not a trick question," Missos stated. "You get those timeouts out. When you have a rookie quarterback on the other side, you don't want him having any communication with the coach at all. You run those timeouts out. You kick the field goal worst case scenario."
Aaron Rodgers eventually engineered a game-winning drive in overtime, but McCarthy’s situational missteps proved to be a costly lesson that Pittsburgh was fortunate to survive.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: The Steelers goal-line mistakes Mike McCarthy must fix immediately
