The Steelers don’t appear to be ready to change their plan, but they don’t appear to be close to getting back the guys they need to implement that plan, either.
According to Alan Robinson of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Steelers aren’t expected to have either running back Le’Veon Bell or tight end Heath Miller back Monday, which will make it hard for them to run the ball the way they hoped.
Without them, coupled with the loss of center Maurkice Pouncey to a season-ending knee injury, the Steelers rushed for 32 yards against the Titans, the lowest of Mike Tomlin’s tenure as head coach. But the trend is clearly not moving in the right direction. They’ve only rushed for 100 yards in a game as a team once in the last nine games, and haven’t had an individual back go for more than 56 during that span.
“I think a consistent running game is really important not only to be good offensively but to strike a balance,” Tomlin said. “We haven’t been able to do that to this point. Obviously, we are working hard to do so.”
Of course, they kind of ditched it late Sunday, trying to shake things up against the Titans.
“You always hate to abandon what you practiced all week, but at some point, you’ve got to say, ‘Hey, let’s make some changes and we did there late,’ ” Roethlisberger said on his radio show on 93.7 FM.
The personnel shortfalls might keep them from being able to fix it soon, and trying to fix an ailing offense against the Bengals isn’t the best spot to be in either.