The Pittsburgh Steelers entered the Week 17 game against the Cleveland Browns with their future on the line. But the Sunday’s outcome forced them to miss a golden chance to lock up the AFC North. Following Pittsburgh’s ugly 13-6 loss to the Browns, NFL legend Ben Roethlisberger didn’t hold back. He slammed Mike Tomlin’s offense for failing to exploit an obvious weakness that helped give the game away.

On Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, the former quarterback weighed in on what went wrong for the Steelers offensively. In his view, the biggest slip-up was the unit’s failure to attack injured linebacker Carson Schwesinger. 

“It was very evident in this game, especially late, that he [Carson] was not just hurt…he couldn’t move,” he said. “Why are we not taking advantage of that as an offense? Whether that’s Aaron, whether that’s Arthur Smith, Mike, anybody like, hey, you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to run the ball at him. We’re going to make him make tackles. We are going to put it to our tight end.”

For context, Schwesinger played through a thigh injury, and the Browns never sidelined him even once during the game. The rookie ended up posting 66 defensive snaps and even appeared on special teams. Roethlisberger couldn’t help but stress that Mike Tomlin’s team should have exploited the situation if the Browns were going to leave him out there.

Further, he highlighted how the team failed to utilize tight end Pat Freiermuth. In his view, Freiermuth is one of the offense’s best players, and the coach should have utilized him over the middle earlier. Roethlisberger thinks constant motion and one-on-one matchups would have exposed the linebacker’s limitations. He also questioned why the offense didn’t use more outside runs with running backs Kenneth Gainwell and Jaylen Warren to force Schwesinger to run and chase.

What frustrated Ben most was that the Steelers finally made those adjustments during the last drive. Mike Tomlin’s unit started moving after attacking the middle of the field, but the move came too late. Then, there was another mistake involving quarterback Aaron Rodgers, adding to missed chances. 

After slamming Mike Tomlin, Ben questions Aaron’s decision-making

The Week 17 loss exposed Rodgers’ struggles with decision-making and handling pressure in the pocket. The Steelers were behind the Browns throughout the game, but they did have a chance to tie the score in the fourth quarter. They even moved the ball deep into the opponent’s territory and reached the 7-yard line. However, the drive failed when the Browns turned the ball over on downs with just 21 seconds remaining.

One of the major slip-ups came on fourth-and-1, when Rodgers took a deep shot to wide receiver Scotty Miller instead of going underneath. And that’s the choice that triggered Roethlisberger. 

Top Stories

Cowboys Fire Defensive Coordinator Matt Eberflus: Contract, Salary, NFL Earnings & More

Russell Wilson Announces Retirement Stance as Giants QB Shares Hidden Injury News

Pete Carroll Makes Final Decision on Retirement as Tom Brady Set to Fire Raiders HC

Dolphins Reportedly Indecisive About Mike McDaniel as GM Search Kicks Off

Travis Kelce Confirms Retirement Stance as Chris Jones Makes Bold Claim on Chiefs TE’s Future

“Aaron predetermined that he had one-on-one, no safety help, I’m taking the shot,” he said. “I don’t hate it. I really don’t hate it. My thing is it wasn’t a good throw. He didn’t make it. I’m sure Aaron will tell you didn’t make a great throw. But looking back at the film, exactly what we thought and where the defense was probably trying, Adam is open on the quick slam.”

Ben’s logic? A quarterback needs to be fully locked in from the start if they commit to a deep throw. He thinks Rodgers was stuck between options, allowing the Browns’ defense to recover. What could have been an easy first down ended in disappointment because the quarterback waited too long. The loss pushed the Steelers into a catastrophic situation. They will now face the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18 with the divisional crown on the line.