The Pittsburgh Steelers let their guard down in Week 12, dropping a divisional trap game to the now 3-8 Cleveland Browns in the snow.

The Steelers had no business losing to Cleveland, at least on paper, and there’s plenty of finger-pointing to go around. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo chose to shift the blame onto head coach Mike Tomlin during an interview with 93.7 The Fan’s Donny Chedrick on Friday morning, stating that his decisions didn’t age well as the contest went on.

“I think hands down, it was the coaching,” Fittipaldo said. “And I’m sure we’re gonna get into some of the personnel decisions and some of those fourth down calls, but I thought overall Mike Tomlin showed the Browns a lack of disrespect early in the game.”

Cleveland’s final drive of the night alone encapsulated what was a subpar night for Tomlin. On 3rd-and-2 from the Steelers’ 25-yard line, he decided to accept an illegal touching penalty on offensive lineman Ethan Pocic that pushed the Browns back five yards for a redo instead of making it 4th-and-2.

Despite the fact that Pittsburgh was in front 19-17 at the time, all indications pointed to Cleveland keeping its offense on the field instead of sending out the kicking unit given the weather. Had Tomlin declined the penalty, a stop on fourth down would have all but sealed a win.

Instead, Jameis Winston found Jerry Jeudy for a 15-yard completion and a first down. Tomlin also burned his second timeout with the clock stopped before the Browns moved the chains, which put Pittsburgh’s offense in a disadvantageous position on its ill-fated closing possession.

Nick Chubb went on to punch the ball into the end zone, putting Cleveland up for good with 57 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Tomlin is an irreplacable part of the Steelers’ organization and is the driving force behind their success year in and year out, but Thursday night was a definite low point for him.

Pittsburgh still sits atop the AFC North with an 8-3 record, however, and can wash away any bad feelings emanating from the loss with a bounce back performance against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 13.

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