Kovacevic: This monstrous mess now sits squarely at Rooney‘s desk

INDIANAPOLIS -- Tick ... tick ... tick ...

I'd written 10 days earlier that time should be ticking on Mike Tomlin's tenure as the Steelers' head coach, this after back-to-back losses to 2-10 opponents. And now, if anything, after a stomach-turning 30-13 throttling by the Colts on this Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium, I'm wondering why there'd be any wait at all.

But hey, don't take it from me.

“All right then, let's be honest, right?" Tomlin would begin his postgame press conference. "We are a fundamentally poor football group right now. We're playing losing football. And I take responsibility for that. By losing football, I mean we're just not doing fundamental things well enough. We're not. We're turning the ball over, we're highly penalized, we don't play good in situations and so, I'm just acknowledging that."

And with a slight pause, he'd add, "I don't necessarily have the answers as we sit here today. If I had the answers, we would've played differently today. But, I will acknowledge things won't continue the way that they are. We're not going to keep doing the same things that we're doing and expect or hope for a different result. So, we got a seven-day turnaround – we’ll see what those seven days hold for us. But, I'm just acknowledging right now that we're playing losing football, and I own that."

Another slight pause, then, "Not a good day."

Nope. Those haven't been in abundance of late. The record was 7-4 when facing a seemingly favorable schedule. It's 7-7 now. The playoff berth that might've seemed in the bag's been popped like an oversized zit. Three games remain against opponents holding a combined 24-16 record, two of those on the road, one clear on the other side of the continent.

To boot, as Tomlin himself put it, these Steelers have too little time to address too many problems of too significant a scope spread across too many people.

There won't be ... can't be any serious fix at hand.

Not at his level, anyway.

____________________

Art Rooney II was here.

Nothing new, of course. He's at all the games, home and road, just as he's at practices and other team events year-round. He's as visible, as involved a team owner as any I've covered. He'll even appear in the locker room, in following the tradition of his late father, Dan, to make the rounds at every stall and shake the hand of every player, from superstars to special-teams spare parts.

He did that here, too. After this.

I can't know what's going through his mind these days, and I won't try to guess. He speaks with a select group of local reporters once a year -- at length and in depth -- in January or February, and that's it. But I can share, from voluminous precedent, that he'll invariably surprise me with a strong feeling on a given subject. Maybe it'll be a facet of the team's play. Maybe it'll be a broader issue that touches the entire NFL. But there'll always be a stance taken that peels the curtain back, that shows that the quiet, smiling, gentle guy I'll observe at the practice facility comes with many more turning wheels than just those on his omnipresent exercise bike.

The man needs to get to work. He's either set to tackle the greatest challenge of his stewardship of this once-proud franchise ... or he'd better be. Because it won't solve itself. If the approach remains the staid status quo, it'll only compound.

Look, I've already made my case for why Tomlin needs to be replaced after this season. I obviously stand by it, even as I'm not about to bury the subject seven feet deep. He's been here too long, achieved too much on and off the field, and he doesn't deserve any Matt Canada-scale scorn from anyone.

But if anyone, notably Rooney, needed a reminder as to why that case is compelling ... wow, where to start with this one?

Who's chiefly at fault, first and foremost on this night, for the Steelers speaking all week of how massive this game was -- Minkah Fitzpatrick called it "playoff-like" -- only to perform flatter than an unplugged EKG?

I could rant forever about how hard the Colts competed, or I could just condense it to their having pulled off a 14-play scoring drive in which all 14 were runs, after which their coach, Shane Steichen, would rave, "It was awesome to see. It just showed that we're capable of running the football whenever we want to. You've got to do it at a high level and execute. Now, do you want to do that every week? ... Heck, yeah, you want to do that every week!"

Really, what the hell was this?

It could be that Diontae Johnson, unwittingly, had the right answer when asked if the playoffs might be fading away from the Steelers: "I’m not thinking about the playoffs right now. I’m just trying to finish the season, and whatever happens happens.”

OK.

I asked the best player in the world: What's missing?

“That’s a good question," T.J. Watt would reply. "If I had that answer, I'd tell you right now. But I think it’s a combination of a lot of things, and that’s what we need to figure out and solve as quick as possible moving forward. We have a game in a week.”                                    

Ever seen him like that? Or heard him like that?

I can't stand it. I can't stand any of this.

And I'm not sure how much longer Rooney can, presuming he doesn't already have some cemented plan for the offseason that accounts for the only change that can make this much of a difference.

Remember how the edge in this game should've gone to the Steelers if only because of their running game vs. the Colts' 26th-rank run defense?

Uh-huh, well, that was Najee Harris being shamefully smashed near the line of scrimmage by ... cornerback JuJu Brents, who was conceding nearly 50 pounds in the collision:

Worse by far, Harris would flail about the field without a compass en route to 33 yards on 12 carries. If removing one 15-yard run, he averaged 1.63 yards per carry on the rest. He'd have had more by falling forward onto his face.

And yet, because Tomlin treats Harris akin to a teacher's pet, he kept feeding Harris on first down after first down after first down, enough to kill several drives before they had a chance to get going.

That chance should go to Jaylen Warren, who carried only 10 times but amassed 40 yards, in addition to five catches -- to Harris' zero -- for an additional 28 yards, while doing generally neat stuff like this:

I mean, what is there to say about this situation anymore beyond that it could have a coach classified as clinically insane?

Remember when all those penalties were about to be cleaned up by -- repeat after me -- inviting high school refs to practices on the South Side for the umpteenth time?

That was quelled for a spell, until it came roaring right back here in the form of eight penalties for 101 yards -- against the Colts' two for 10 yards -- with this lousy hit by Damontae Kazee earning an ejection:

Debating the merits of the ejection misses the point. The lack of discipline's been on display for months.

Remember when, just this past week, Tomlin was attempting to justify George Pickens' multiple tantrums this season by explaining how the poor kid's frustrated only because he wants what's best for the team?

This was Pickens' herculean effort to help Warren into the end zone, appropriately mocked all over social media:

Say this much: At least our hero was able to leap out of the way of that last villain rolling his way! The warrior lives to fight another day!

Remember when Chuks Okorafor lost his starting job for good because he spoke too loudly near the end of a loss that he wouldn't mind kneeling this one out?

Anyone care to list any other acts of accountability related to this offensive line that continues, three years in a row now, to be the scourge of this whole operation?

And are we still blaming quarterbacks for all these sacks?

If so ...

... then Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph might like a word, as well as Kenny Pickett and possibly even rewinding all the way back to Ben Roethlisberger. Because, even with tens of millions of dollars and other capital invested, not much has changed since we last saw Ben and Maurkice Pouncey sitting on that bench together.

Tomlin's deeply immersed in player acquisition, player development and the hiring of positional coaches, all three of which have been failures -- no, signature failures -- on this front. The line's hurt everyone and everything, and there's no end in sight.

“I thought we had a really good week of practice," Mason Cole would say. "I think our preparation was really good. It’s just we came out here today and laid a goose egg.”

That basket's overflowing. Four more sacks for 30 yards in losses. Nine quarterback hits. Two unscripted scrambles.

I asked Trubisky if he felt he was "under duress" throughout this game -- my exact phrasing -- and I can't recall once in my career hearing a quarterback answer that in the affirmative.

“They have a good front," he'd say of the Colts. "They got some pressure, and they got some sacks. We've got to score more points.”

It wasn't a no.

Remember when the defense was recommitted to shutting down the run, especially upon Cam Heyward's return?

Two Indianapolis dudes not even their own mothers would recognize combined for a hilarious-if-it-weren't-so-sad 170 rushing yards. And I swear I don't recall either one's name, and I'm not inclined to go look them up, since I'm sure I'll never hear of them again.

But there's footage, anyway:

One more?

All right, but it's a show-stopper.

Late in the third quarter, Steelers down by nine, Trubisky misfires badly for Pickens, bring on fourth-and-14 at the Indianapolis 39. Being two scores down, being within a 56-yard field goal, being inside a domed stadium, being that Chris Boswell's still on the payroll, this screamed for a kick. But Tomlin, as ever living in his fears when it comes to field position, summoned Pressley Harvin to punt.

Which, upon karma seizing the moment, traveled all of 22 yards:

Per one sophisticated metric that tracks 'cowardly punts,' this was an all-timer:

Why?

“Not a lot had gone in our way to that juncture that made me feel good about banging a 57-yard field goal, particularly on the down before," Tomlin replied when that came up. "I thought we might take a shot or check it down, and we end up throwing the ball out of bounds. So, I didn't like that field positioning.”

Translation: He doesn't utilize analytics or technical assistants in any capacity.

Anyone really want to extend this exercise?

____________________

For that matter, anyone really want to extend any of what we're witnessing?

Again, I can't read Rooney's mind. I can't know if he's genuinely waiting until after this season to make some full assessment. I can't know if he'd be satisfied seeing this team somehow sneak into the playoffs. I can't know if he'd view that as some sign of strength in overcoming adversity, one that'd eclipse all the trash accumulated along the path.

But this isn't dumping Bruce Arians for Todd Haley, which is, to date, the most pivotal move he's made to date as the controlling owner. If he replaces Tomlin, regardless of how he'd go about it, regardless of who he'd find as a replacement, will be seismic to the super-extreme. He'd be uprooting almost everything about how the Steelers conduct business, apart from what Omar Khan could preserve on his own. He'd be, ideally, bringing the philosophies and process into this century. He'd be risking ... risking ...

Eh. 

You know what?

I don't care to discuss the risk. Because Rooney can't risk staying this course. He just can't. And here's hoping those ticks don't have to become deafening for that to be realized.

GETTY

Najee Harris is stopped for no gain by the Colts' Kwity Paye in the second quarter Saturday in Indianapolis.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Highlights
• Team feed
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard

THE IN-GAME INJURIES

• Steelers: DT Cam Heyward (concussion protocol) didn't miss a snap but was revealed afterward by a team official as being in protocol. ... S Minkah Fitzpatrick (knee) exited in the second quarter and didn't return. ... S Trenton Thompson (stinger) exited in the third quarter but returned.

• Colts: RB Zack Moss (arm) exited in the second quarter and didn't return.. ... WR Michael Pittman (head) was hit illegally in the second quarter by the Steelers' Damontae Kazee and didn't return.

THE MULTIMEDIA

THE SCHEDULE

Next up are the Bengals, next Saturday, 4:30 p.m., at Acrisure Stadium.

THE FEED

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