Mark Madden: No surprise that flawed roster, poor coaching led to Steelers' collapse

This column will be all over the place. Because the Pittsburgh Steelers are all over the place.

From 10-3 to 10-6.

From AFC North front-runner in line for a playoff home game to hitting the road for the wild-card round.

From “a legit Super Bowl contender that can beat anybody” to embarrassed and manhandled three times in a row by teams that are clearly superior.

The defense isn’t elite.

Russell Wilson’s Indian summer is over.

Quotes from the players stop just shy of finger-pointing.

The Steelers are masters of the surrender punt.

It’s a classic Steelers collapse on par with 2018, ’19 and ’20. (It’s hard to be worse than 2020: From 11-0 to losing five of their last six, including a home playoff loss to Cleveland.)

The citizens are experiencing lots of feelings and emotions. Even “Renegade” fell flat during the home loss to Kansas City on Christmas.

Nobody should be surprised. It’s a truth that’s been there all along hiding in plain sight. This is exactly what figured to happen.

The Steelers have a flawed roster.

The Steelers are poorly coached.

This is the fourth time in the past six years that the Steelers have lost three straight in December.

It’s the fifth time in the past seven years that the Steelers have lost three straight after Thanksgiving.

That’s because other teams improve over the course of a season. The Steelers don’t.

That’s because Mike Tomlin has no nuance to his coaching. The Steelers just show up, play like the Steelers and hope that’s good enough.

That’s because the Steelers have a coaching staff composed of stooges and yes-men. The last Tomlin underling who didn’t fit that description was Bruce Arians. The Steelers ran him off.

Tomlin doesn’t want to be challenged. He wants to sit alone in his Jacuzzi of authority and arrogance.

Tomlin’s mere adequacy is camouflaged by him dispensing quotable word salad and empty platitudes to a media he’s got thinly veiled contempt for, yet who nonetheless kneel before Zod. (But Tomlin loves celebrity media. They play ball. That’s your cue, Jay Glazer.)

Brian Flores was on the Steelers staff in 2022 as a senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach. Flores left after one season to become Minnesota’s defensive coordinator. The Vikings have the No. 3 scoring defense in the NFL. Flores is recognized as a top defensive mind.

The Steelers should have kept Flores and made him defensive coordinator. They instead stuck with Teryl Austin, who has never been accused of being a top defensive mind. #BuddySystem

But Tomlin runs the defense anyway, so what’s the difference?

The Steelers have a depth chart riddled with holes, so what’s the difference?

It’s not a good offensive line.

It’s a terrible group of wideouts.

The running backs are subpar.

Joey Porter Jr.’s sophomore slump and Minkah Fitzpatrick’s invisibility have made the secondary weak.

Except for Cam Heyward, the defensive line is garbage.

Sure, a lot went right against bad teams. It’s much easier to succeed against bad teams.

The Steelers are firmly stuck in the mushy middle. Finish middle, draft middle, stay middle.

Drafting Kenny Pickett in 2022’s first round was a disaster. It set the franchise back years.

Trading 2020’s first-round pick for Fitzpatrick in 2019 was stupid. Ben Roethlisberger had popped his elbow. That season was lost the moment that happened. You don’t need a star safety unless he’s Troy Polamalu. The Steelers should have tanked ’19 and tried to finish low enough to draft quarterback Justin Herbert, who went sixth to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Instead, the Steelers went 8-8 to preserve Tomlin’s mark of no losing seasons.

I used to think that streak wasn’t important. More organic than anything.

Now it seems like the be-all, end-all. Constantly mentioned. A point of pride like winning Super Bowls used to be. There’s no joy in .500. Except in Pittsburgh.

I used to argue when it was said that Tomlin won his Super Bowl with Bill Cowher’s team. Now, as we get further away from Tomlin’s legit period of accomplishment, that’s hard to dispute.

The Steelers do plenty wrong.

They’ve drafted poorly for years. Luxury picks and underachievers. Look at their first-round choices since 2018: Terrell Edmunds, Devin Bush, Najee Harris, Kenny Pickett, Broderick Jones, Troy Fautanu.

GM Omar Khan’s mishandling of the wide receiver situation has been epic.

The Steelers’ philosophy of football is outdated. They’re diesel fuel in a high-octane era. The Steelers emphasize running the ball and defense. But they’re bad at the former, overrated at the latter.

No playoff wins in seven years. Three in 13.

But Tomlin is a great coach. Just because.

The Steelers are a great organization. Just because.

Results don’t matter. Evidence gets ignored. Every franchise wants to be like the Steelers.

Except the good ones.