Sometimes, the bye week can come at the most inopportune time.
In the case of these 2022 Pittsburgh Steelers, it's probably coming at the perfect time.
They're 2-6, they're last in the AFC North, and they've currently got the second-highest odds at landing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, per the ESPN Football Power Index.
This is undoubtedly and uncharacteristically uncharted territory for the storied franchise, and after a 35-13 blowout loss Sunday in Philadelphia, the team is still searching for answers to the inept offense, a tried defense and a coaching staff which can't press the correct buttons on a roster which has very few desirable ones to press.
"Coach Tomlin talked a little bit after the game. Fundamentally, we’ve got to be better everywhere, across the board,” Mason Cole said during Monday's open locker room session at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "We're not fundamentally sound, we're not doing the right things. We've just got to get better across the board."
Week after week, it has become the same song and dance with the Steelers. That comes with the exception of Week 1 at Cincinnati (in which the Steelers just as easily could have lost) and on Oct. 16 against Tampa Bay. Otherwise, the Steelers have succumbed to teams which are simply just too good for their competition (Buffalo, Philadelphia), and ones which they had a legitimate shot of winning (one-score losses to New England, the Jets and Miami).
Now with a whole extra week to regroup, rest, re-think and re-evaluate, the team will look to do just that.
"We're looking forward to getting guys back that have been out. Obviously, T.J. (Watt) is one," Derek Watt told me. "Just getting our bodies -- guys that have been grinding through the season so far, take a week and get your body right, try to regroup and find out where we can be better to help win some games."
Tomlin is 8-7 after bye weeks, but the Steelers have won their past five of those. The latest loss off of a bye was in Week 9 of 2016 against Baltimore. Tomlin's recent track record of refocusing the team during the bye has resulted in an average margin of victory of nine points.
Having lost six of their last seven games, there is a factor of having to quickly regroup and adjust, while trying to solve the myriad of problems which have caused these losses. With two weeks now separating the Steelers from their next game on Nov. 13 against New Orleans, a mental reset is in order.
"This gives us more time to focus on ourself, what we need to detail, what we need to learn from film, mistakes," Tre Norwood told me. "This kind of gives us more time to focus on the things we need to do as a team since we don't have to prepare for a game this weekend. I think it does benefit us, as the bye week does. I think any time it comes and what not, just being able to re-focus, get back to the basics -- that's the main thing, getting back to the basics -- at practice, the fundamentals, detailing things out, so that when we do come back from the bye, we can continue to elevate for our next opponent."
The Steelers were without Mason Rudolph, Kendrick Green, Chris Boswell, Larry Ogunjobi, Josh Jackson, Levi Wallace and Mark Robinson on Sunday in Philadelphia, and plenty of others have battled through injuries during parts of the first half of the Steelers' season. Getting healthy is a part of every team's bye week, but when four starters are missing from the game against the best team in the NFC, those impacts trickle down and are felt throughout the game flow.
But, there is also the mental aspect that needs to be attended to. Aside from the toll of losing as many games the Steelers have, there is also the factor of most players being away from their families for three-plus months and needing to just get away from the game if not for a few days.
That is just normal, human behavior.
"I think everyone should use this time to get away for a little bit," Cole said. "The season is such a long grind, so I do think you need to take some days away from the building, spend some time with your family, go home, whatever it might be. Football-wise, the bye week I think we could use to self-scout, go back and watch all our games, see how we've progressed, where we've de-gressed, what we need to do better, what we've done really well, and just be super critical of ourselves."
Said Watt: "The season's a grind. Obviously we're in a little bit of a rut right now, so just trying to get out of that. Regroup, refresh, and everybody ready to come back to attack the back part of the season.”
MORE FROM THE SESSION
• Rudolph's name has swirled among trade talks, with the NFL's trade deadline approaching at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Some teams could be looking to add at quarterback, and the Steelers' third-stringer and former starter has been among the commodities discussed for teams which need a plug-and-play starter or someone to serve as a backup.
Rudolph confirmed Monday that he has not asked the Steelers for a trade, and that he has not heard from anybody within the organization as of Monday afternoon about him potentially being dealt.
On the prospects of getting traded, Rudolph said it is on his mind.
"I think about it for sure," he said, "but I don't -- like I said, I haven't heard anything. I think typically if something was serious or going to happen, you'd start to hear a little bit from the team or just in the rumor mill. Like I said, we'll see, but I don't anticipate (being traded). Crazier things have happened."
• Terrell Edmunds offered his thoughts on more players stepping up and taking accountability for the team's shortcomings:
"I think as a team, we've just got to hold ourselves accountable," he said. "We know that we haven't been playing good football. We're 2-6, so it's not hard to see that. We've got to figure out exactly what we need to do and just go from there. ... The effort's there. We're meeting, we're doing all of the things, the coaches are putting us in the best position, we've just got to go out there and make plays now."
• Cole had a white Kenny Pickett Pitt jersey hanging in his locker. When I asked him about it, he said he got it made for when he went to watch the Backyard Brawl earlier in the season.
