Mitch Trubisky struggled mightily and was replaced late in Saturday’s game, but Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said he’d take full responsibility for the team’s 30-13 loss to the Colts.
Trubisky, playing for the injured Kenny Pickett, floundered, going 16 of 23 on his passes for 169 yards, throwing one touchdown to two interceptions.
He had a 68.9 quarterback rating in a game that dropped Pittsburgh to 7-7 and farther out of the playoff picture.
But after the game, Tomlin told reporters there were team-wide issues that plagued the club in the defeat.
“Let’s be honest, we’re a fundamentally poor football team right now,” Tomlin said, per the Associated Press. “We’re playing losing football and I own that. I don’t necessarily have the answers today. If I did, we’d have played differently today. But I will acknowledge things will not continue the way that they are.”
When asked about the lackluster performance from Trubisky, who was benched at the end of the fourth quarter for third-stringer Mason Rudolph, Tomlin avoided giving a straight answer on the status of Trubisky’s spot heading into Week 16.
“Again, as I opened, we didn’t do enough of anything well today,” Tomlin said.
Trubisky, 29, initially put the Steelers in the lead, rushing for a score and throwing for a touchdown to give Pittsburgh a 13-0 edge in the second quarter.
But things went downhill from there as he threw a pick at the end of the second and then one more in the third.
With 5:57 in the game and the Colts up 27-13, Trubisky overthrew star wideout George Pickens in what would be his final pass attempt of the day.
In the final few minutes, Rudolph entered and completed 2 of 3 passes for just three yards.
Despite the loss pushing the team further from playoff contention, Tomlin is preparing for the remaining three games of the season.
“We’re not going to keep doing the same things that we’re doing and expect a different result,” Tomlin told reporters. “So we have a seven-day turnaround, we’ll see what those seven days hold for us.”
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