Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin in a game against the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 4, 2025. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers had one of the most embarrassing losses in Mike Tomlin’s tenure on Sunday, not just because they dropped a 26-7 decision to a very talented Buffalo Bills team, but because of the continued inability of the team’s braintrust to find a way to solve obvious and repeated problems with the team’s defense.
Someone is going to have to pay for the team’s failures, and thought the fans at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday were calling for the firing of coach Tomlin, it’s far more likely that defensive coordinator Teryl Austin will be the scapegoat for what has happened to his unit.
If that’s going to happen, they should get it over with and move on from Austin immediately.
This Steelers defense was supposed to be historic. The most expensive defense in league history, the Steelers piled on this offseason, adding Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay to an already expensive, already successful group.
Nothing has gone according to plan. Slay was a healthy scratch on Sunday and looks every bit his age. Ramsey has not been playing the position he was acquired to play. T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward have declined.
The Steelers set out this offseason to do two things on defense: be able to defend the wide receivers of the Cincinnati Bengals and be able to stop the rushing attack of the Baltimore Ravens. They suffered one critical loss to a floundering Bengals team in a failure of the first task, and though they’ve yet to face the Ravens, it’s hard right now to have any faith in their ability to accomplish the former.
Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Dec. 21, 2024. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
Not only have they been unable to succeed in the big-picture plans the team laid out for this season, they’ve repeatedly failed in making in-game adjustments to deal with what opposing offenses have been doing to them.
When the Cincinnati Bengals started unleashing a torrent of short passes against them on Thursday Night Football a few weeks ago, the Steelers didn’t have answer. It took them two games to come up with the solution of moving Jalen Ramsey to safety, starting James Pierre at outside cornerback and playing more two-high shell coverages.
Finding the eventual fix is laudable, but it can’t take two weeks for a $160 million defensive unit to find a schematic solution to a problem.
Last week, the Buffalo Bills ran the run play Duo over and over and over again. The Steelers never came up with an answer, with James Cook running right at T.J. Watt to the tune of 144 yards on 32 carries.
“Absolutely,” Watt said when asked if the team knew that play was coming from the Bills this week. “We knew that 4 [James Cook III] was a hell of a runner. I think No. 1 or No. 2 rushing offense in league. We knew he likes to bounce outside, knew he was an elite running back. Weren’t able stop it tonight. … They were very effective. We tried many different things, and we weren’t successful. … It’s not a tough run concept. It’s just something that we need to stop.”
Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt in a game against the Buffalo Bills on Nov. 30, 2025. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
Once again, Austin and company could not come up with an in-game adjustment that worked.
Austin is in the final season of his contract. There seems to be almost no chance that, given his performance and the performance of his unit so far this season, that he will be invited back for another one.
There’s no reason for the Steelers to wait until the end of the season to make that move.
In addition to those schematic issues, several of the Steelers top defenders are not playing up to their usual level — most notably Watt. And if you listen to Watt above, it’s hard to hear a lot of confidence in the team’s ability to correct those issues.
Maybe relieving Austin of his play-calling duties wouldn’t matter much in that regard. Mike Tomlin has always had a significant hand in the team’s defense. But it would at least be an attempt at doing something different to see if the Steelers can unlock the play of Watt, Cam Heyward, Alex Highsmith, Patrick Queen, Jalen Ramsey and others before the end of the season.
If they can’t get any of that group going, how do they commit $115 million to those five players next season? They can’t. They have to get some kind of read on whether it’s just the scheme, or if a half-dozen of the team’s best defensive players have all gotten washed up at the same time. The clock is ticking on that decision, and keeping Austin around for another few weeks won’t make it any easier.
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