California trip usually leaves Steelers trippin’
Reasons for Tomlin’s 2-6 mark there have often been mind-benders
There are five reasons to like the Rams against the Steelers when the teams play at SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood on Sunday:
Sean McVay is Boy Wonder, the youngest coach towin a Super Bowl. Matthew Stafford gives the Rams abig edge at quarterback. Widereceiver Cooper Kupp is back, healthy and one of the NFL’s top players. Wide receiver Puka Nacua is a top candidate for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. Aaron Donald is Aaron Donald.
Thereis a sixth reason, actually:
Mike Tomlin’s team almost never wins in California.
Thisis the first time the Steelers will play the Rams in Inglewood under Tomlin. But they are 2-6 in California, going0-3 against the Oakland Raiders,0-2 against the San Francisco 49ers and 2-1 againstthe San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers.
Thesix losses were nightmares.
The Steelers lost to the Raiders because they couldn’t find an X-ray machine for Ben Roethlisberger, because of the longest touchdownrun by an NFL quarterback, and because their defense couldn’t hold a 10-point leadin the fourth quarter.
Theylost to the 49ers because Roethlisberger tried to playon one leg and because they couldn’t take advantage of five turnovers.
Theylost to the Chargers when their defense gave up 533yards.
Even the Steelers’ two wins against the Chargers seemed fluky.
They won the first on a Mondaynight in San Diego in2015 with Michael Vick as their quarterback. Vick, starting for the injured Roe th li sb erg er, threw a 72yard touchdown pass to Markus Wheaton to tie the gamein the fourth quarter, then led the team on an 80yard drive to win it 24-20 when Le’Veon Bell scored the winning touchdown on a 1yard run from the Wildcat formation on the final play.
“Wehave Le’Veon Bell,” Tomlin said of his decision to pass up a tying field goal to go forthe win.
“Mike put us on his shoulders and took us down the field,” Heath Miller said of Vick.
The Steelers won the other game against the Chargers in 2019on a high school field in Carson, Calif., despite coming in 1-4 and as a 6.5-point underdog. James Conner had 119scrimmage yards and two touchdowns. Benny Snell rushed for 75 yards in the secondhalf. Devin Bush, if you can believe it, returned a fumble for a touchdown and intercepted a pass.
But Duck Hodges, making his first NFL start, was the big story in the 24-17 win.
“He didn’t kill us,” Tomlin said.
The Steelers’ losses in California were even harder to believe than Duck’s Andy Warhol moment.
Start with the 20-3 loss in San Francisco in 2011. Roethlisberger, playing on a badly sprained left ankle, threw three interceptions, lost a fumble and finished with a 52.3 passer rating.
“I’mnot going to make any excuses,” Roethlisberger said. “I played a bad football game. I was probably the best 49er tonight.”
Therewas the 34-31 loss in Oakland in 2012. The Raiders camein 0-2 and would finish theseason with a 4-12 record. But they scored the final 13 points and won on Sebastian Janikowski’s 43-yard field goal on the final play. The Steelers finished 8-8 and missedthe playoffs.
Howabout the 21-18 loss in Oakland in 2013? Terrelle Pryor— perhaps you remember him from his legendary days at Jeannette High— ran for a 93-yard touchdown on the first play. Shaun Suisham, who had made14 consecutive field goals, missed from 34 and 32 yards.The Raiders lost eight of their next nine games and finished 4-12. The Steelers went8-8 and missed the playoffs.
The craziest loss came at ancient Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in 2018. The Steelers came in 7-4-1 and were10.5-point favorites. The Raiders were 2-10. The Raiders won 24-21.
Roe th li sb er ger injured his ribs late in the first half, watched from the sideline as Josh Dobbs did little with the Steelers offense, and finally returned to the game with 5:20left. He completed 6 of 6 passes for 70 yards, including a1-yard touchdown pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster that gave the Steelers a 21-17 lead. The Raiders responded with a75-yard touchdown drive forth ego-ahead score. Roe th li sb er ger nearly brought the Steelers back again, setting upa tying field goal attempt aftera 48-yard gain on a hook and-lateral play with James Washington and SmithSchuster. Chris Boswell slipped and missed the kick from40 yards, but the big story after the game was Tomlin’s decision not to go back to Roethlisberger earlier. Tomlin explained: “Getting the X-ray executed was not a fluid thing. Even after getting the X-ray, we didn’t have great clarity. We weren’t able to read the Xray to our satisfaction. It was probably a dated piece of equipment. ...
“Because of a lack of[ medical] information and thesituation not being a comfortable or ideal one, we said we
wouldonly reinsert him into thegame if it was necessary. Asthe game unfolded, it becamenecessary.”
Too little, too late.
The loss was huge in the Steelers’ failure to make the postseason.
The24-20 defeat in San Franciscoin 2019 also contributedto the Steelers missingthe playoffs that season. Theoffense, led by Mason Rudolphmaking his first NFL start for the injured Roethlisberger,wasted five turnovers bytheir defense with a late fumbleby Conner the killer. “I feel sick for the defense,” DavidDeCastro said.
The Steelers’ most recent loss in California was 41-37 to the Chargers in Inglewood in 2021. This time, the defense, playing without injured T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Joe Haden, let the team down, allowing the winning 53-yard touchdown pass from Justin Herbert to Mike Williams with 2:09 left. Roethlisberger, in his final season, had brought the Steelers back from a 2710 deficit in the fourth quarter to take a 37-34 lead.
The Steelers will try again in California on Sunday. They are 3-point underdogs to the Rams at SoFi Stadium for all six of those reasons.
I feel a lot better about the Steelers’ chances of beating McVay, Stafford, Kupp, Nacua and Donald than I do about them beating their rotten California history under Tomlin.