The Pittsburgh Steelers were defeated by the Philadelphia Eagles 27-13 in the 2024 edition of the Battle for Pennsylvania. After starting the season 8-2, the Steelers have now dropped two of their last four games, bringing their record to 10-4 on the year.
In the press conference following the disappointing loss, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin highlighted missed opportunities as the biggest reason why Pittsburgh was unable to take care of business against the Eagles.
“We had a penalty going in that forced us to settle for a field goal,” Timlin explained. “We turned the ball over on a short field and got no points. And, there were several possession downs on defense where we had opportunities to tackle ball carriers in the flat, and we missed those tackles. That produced extended drives, and thus, points.”
Tomlin refused to make any excuses for his squad.
“That’s life in our business. It’s not anything mystical. It’s very fundamental,” Tomlin said. “We have to play disciplined. We got to secure the ball. We have to tackle. We didn’t do some of those fundamental things well enough tonight to secure a victory.”
At the time of the press conference, the Denver Broncos had not yet defeated the Indianapolis Colts, meaning that the Pittsburgh Steelers had not yet clinched a playoff spot. Even though the Broncos would eventually beat the Colts and Pittsburgh would secure a playoff berth, Tomlin was only concerned with winning the game against the Eagles.
“We had a game to play today. We wanted to win it, and we didn’t,” Tomlin elaborated. “Some of that other stuff [playoff positioning] is less relevant to us.”
With the loss, the Steelers are only one and a half games ahead of the Baltimore Ravens for first place in the AFC North. Next week, the Steelers will travel to Baltimore to face off against the Ravens with first place in the AFC North on the line. If the Steelers are able to win that game, then there is a very good chance that they will win the division and host a playoff game when the regular season concludes.
