Gerry Dulac: After dreadful loss to Colts, even Mike Tomlin acknowledges Steelers are a bad football team right now

INDIANAPOLIS —There is not much left to say about a team that keeps finding new ways to lose and new lows to hit. Even Mike Tomlin admits he is out of answers to explain what has happened to the Steelers, especially in a playoff-type game when he expected so much more from his players. But he at least knows this much about his team after a 30-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium — a defeat that, in many ways, was just as embarrassing as the back-to-back losses that preceded it. “Let’s be honest — we’re fundamentally a poor football group right now,” Tomlin said. “We’re playing losing football.” And they are doing it in more ways than one. Not only did they lose their third game in a row and fourth in the last five starts to drop to 7-7 and into the basement of the AFC North.But they came up with a new way to self-destruct — taking a 13-0 lead in the second quarter, then watching the Colts run off 30 unanswered points. It tied the most points the Steelers have allowed this season. “It sucks,” said receiver Diontae Johnson, who caught a 4-yard touchdown from Mitch Trubisky that gave the Steelers the 13-point cushion. “We lost the game. We didn’t do what we’re supposed to do out there. Y’all seen it.”

The Steelers have three games remaining, beginning this upcoming Saturday at home against the Cincinnati Bengals. In all likelihood, they would have to win their remaining games against the Bengals, Seattle Seahawks and Baltimore Ravens to have a chance to gain one of the three wild card spots in the AFC. Of course, in the wacky world of the NFL, anything is possible. It was the fifth win in the past six games for the surging Colts, who ended an eight-game losing streak against the Steelers. “We ain’t got much time,” outside linebacker Alex Highsmith said. “We’ve got to turn it around ASAP. But today was unacceptable.”

The Colts completely flipped the script on the Steelers, rushing for 170 yards on 34 carries despite playing without their top running back, Jonathan Taylor. The Steelers managed just 74 yards on 24 carries against the league’s 26th-ranked rush defense that was allowing 131.5 yards per game. What’s more, the Steelers committed three turnovers, two on interceptions from Mitch Trubisky, and were penalized eight times for 101 yards. “We’re not doing fundamental things well enough,” Tomlin said. “We’re turning the ball over, we’re highly penalized, we don’t play good in situations. I don’t necessarily have the answers. If I had the answers, we’d play differently today.”

Things were so bad that Mason Rudolph even got to enter the game for the final two minutes, though the loss could hardly be blamed on Trubisky, who was starting his second game for the injured Kenny Pickett and was responsible for both touchdowns. Rather, the defense gave up 373 yards to the Colts, including 215 yards and three touchdowns to quarterback Gardner Minshew. “It’s tough when you have a loss like this and expect a different outcome, especially after the way we practiced this week,” cornerback Patrick Peterson said. “I didn’t expect that at all. We definitely expected more out of ourselves. It wasn’t a performance that anybody wanted.”

Already depleted by injuries, the Steelers lost starting strong safety Damontae Kazee when he was ejected for a hit on receiver Michael Pittman Jr. on an incomplete pass in the second quarter. On the next play, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick injured his knee when he collided with Peterson and did not return. Even though he is running out of bodies, Tomlin said the Steelers need to make changes in every area to avoid playing the way his team is performing. “Things won’t continue the way they are,” Tomlin said. “We won’t keep doing things the way we’re doing them and expect or hope for a different result. Everything is on the table at this juncture. We can’t play football like that.”

The Steelers took a 6-0 lead on their second possession of the game when Trubisky scored on a 1-yard sneak — a play in which the original call on the field was overturned upstairs. The touchdown was set up by a pair of 15-yard completions to receiver George Pickens, the big one coming on 3rd-and-6 from the Colts 38. However, Chris Boswell missed his first extra point of the season. The Steelers made it 13-0 on the next series when tight end Conner Heyward blocked a punt and linebacker Nick Herbig recovered at the Colts 1. After a 3-yard loss by Harris, Trubisky found Johnson at the pylon for a 4-yard touchdown. The Colts, though, came back on the next possession to go 75 yards on seven plays to make it 13-7 on Minshew’s 16-yard catch-and-run to running back Zack Moss, who beat inside linebacker Mykal Walker to the pylon.

But the game began to turn near the end of the half when the Colts needed just 22 seconds to go 74 yards and score on a 14-yard touchdown from Minshew to receiver D.J. Montgomery with just 22 seconds remaining. And it kept getting worse. On the Steelers’ first play of the second half, Najee Harris fumbled after a hit by linebacker E.J. Speed, and the Colts turned the takeaway into a 14-yard touchdown to tight end Mo Alie-Cox one play later for a 21-13 lead. Alie-Cox had an easy time beating inside linebacker Mark Robinson for the touchdown. It was Harris’ first lost fumble of the season. “That one obviously hurt us,” Johnson said. “That was a big possession. That changed the momentum of the game. We didn’t respond after that.”

The Colts made it 24-13 on the next series on a 29-yard field goal by Matt Gay after running back Tyler Goodson, elevated from the practice squad because of an injury to Taylor, ran 31 yards to the Steelers 20. Then, in a true act of defiance, the Colts ran the ball on 13 consecutive plays, moving the ball from their own 17 to the Steelers 13 before settling for Gay’s 31-yard field goal and a 27-13 lead. “We’re not happy how we performed — nobody is,” cornerback Joey Porter Jr. said. “We can’t give up now. We’ve got games left. I haven’t given up on the team.”