Their season on the brink, the Steelers did what they always do under Mike Tomlin: Push back

PITTSBURGH — Aaron Rodgers was smiling. But he wasn't kidding.

Not long after a 27-22 victory over Baltimore on Sunday in which the Pittsburgh Steelers somehow pulled themselves back from the brink, their future Hall of Fame quarterback did what he's done in his unique (if occasionally self-serving) way over and over through the years.

He stared at the elephant in the room, reached out, and shook its hand.

“Maybe you guys will shut the hell up for a week,” Rodgers said after the Steelers wrested back control of the AFC North with three hours of passionate if not always precise football that likely slowed — but hardly stopped — speculation about coach Mike Tomlin's long-term future in Pittsburgh.

This is what Tomlin teams do, what they have done really, throughout his 19 years with the Steelers.

A spate of lifeless play for a myriad of reasons — injuries, indifference, age, poor game plans, etc. — will nudge them toward the edge of collapse, the kind that happens almost everywhere else across the NFL but seemingly never in Pittsburgh.

Then, just as quickly, the Steelers will push back from the brink. The resolve they've lacked will return. Their coach's belief — which tends to tilt toward willful and sometimes infuriating stubbornness when things get sideways for any length of time — that “the answers are in the building," as he said after his team was pounded at home by Buffalo on the last day of November and the call for his firing echoed throughout Acrisure Stadium, will be validated.

This is what makes Tomlin such a compelling figure. The man who now has 190 regular-season victories — tied with Dan Reeves for 10th on the NFL's all-time list — has never had his team let go of the rope.

The nine men in front of the 53-year-old Tomlin on that list — six of whom are in the Hall of Fame and two of whom (Bill Belichick and Andy Reid) will be — have all endured the sting of losing seasons and painful rebuilds. Most of them were shown the door at least once.

Not Tomlin. Not yet anyway. And maybe not anytime soon.

While there's still every chance this season will be the one that finally gets away from the Steelers (7-6), there's also every chance that, despite their myriad of shortcomings, they will find a way to win a highly flawed division and host a playoff game for the first time since 2020.

The next four weeks are filled with landmines. Pittsburgh could stumble into every one of them. Or maybe the recipe they relied on in Baltimore — a suddenly revived downfield passing game, a well-timed turnover and the ability to take advantage of a couple of 50/50 calls that went their way — will prove sustainable.

The noise the Steelers are intent on tuning out will persist regardless. The only thing they have control of is the volume.

On the first Sunday in December, they grabbed the knob, cranked it to the left, and exited a place that had served as their own personal house of horrors of late with first place in hand.

Perhaps just as importantly, they showed — as they have time and again over the last 19 years — that they have their seemingly forever embattled coach's back.

“‘Coach T’ is a great leader for us, and he’s done nothing but take the bullets for us,” wide receiver DK Metcalf said. “Even when we were high or when we were low, every day he’s steady (and) always motivated us to play our best ball."

What's working

Playing modern NFL football. The Steelers had gone more than a month without completing a downfield pass of more than 20 yards when Rodgers hit a streaking Metcalf for 52 yards on Pittsburgh's first offensive snap. Rodgers later extended a play and bought enough time to find Calvin Austin III for 31 yards. A little aggressiveness could go a long way for a team that had become far too safe and predictable during its midseason swoon.

What needs help

The run defense remains an issue, with no quick fix coming. The Steelers have given up 157 yards rushing per game over the last five weeks and now must face the surging Dolphins (6-7), who are averaging 192 yards on the ground during their current four-game winning streak.

Stock up

Rodgers' 42-year-old legs. The NFL's oldest player appeared to enter a time machine for about 10 seconds or so during a broken play in the second quarter when he tucked the ball and beat a pair of defenders to the corner for the 37th rushing touchdown of his career.

Stock down

Idle speculation. For all the airtime and words dedicated to the seemingly endless debate on Tomlin's job status, the reality is the Steelers have given zero indication in nearly 19 years since they plucked him from relative obscurity and named him as Bill Cowher's replacement that they've seen enough. And so it goes.

Injuries

It's telling of the physical nature of the rivalry that tight end Darnell Washington, left tackle Andrus Peat, and inside linebacker Malik Harrison all exited with concussions.

Key number

5 — wins by the Steelers against Baltimore's Lamar Jackson. Only Kansas City has beaten the two-time MVP as many times during his career.

Next steps

Try to push their home winning streak on Monday Night Football to 23 straight when the Dolphins visit Acrisure Stadium on Dec. 15.