We originally wanted to take a closer look at each wild-card losing team for this edition of the Four Verts column. Then came the downpour of the NFL news cycle. Happens! We’ll still hit a couple notable teams eliminated this past weekend, but first, about as big a coaching story as you can get.
Steelers have suddenly become the most fascinating team in the NFL
It’s hard to put into words what Mike Tomlin has meant to the Steelers, the NFL and the community around this league in general. Nineteen years, no losing seasons, a Super Bowl trophy and some of the most fearsome defenses in this century of football are all on Tomlin’s résumé. The future Hall of Famer appears like he’s headed to television for a year after stepping down from his role as the Steelers head coach, opening a seismic rift in the league. While Tomlin’s recent run as the coach has been disappointing to some, there will now be an interesting case study to see just how much he was helping the team through their inability to land a franchise quarterback since the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger.
The Steelers have been hitting their head against the ceiling for the past few years in the most disappointing, and quite frankly boring, fashion. This year’s team was the best iteration of the muck they’ve put on the field since Roethlisberger retired, but this run has largely been littered with teams punching above their weight before hitting the wall hard when a more talented team shows up in the playoffs. It’s understandable why that is something an organization, fan base and even Tomlin himself would get tired of. It was time for a shakeup, but as a representative of Fans of Bad Teams: it can always get worse.
These rosters were not talented, clearly, and not once did they dip below .500 or have a losing season outright. That’s truly an accomplishment that doesn’t have many peers. Winning in the NFL is difficult, and the fact that for nearly two decades straight the Steelers were a relevant team (to varying degrees) is an unbelievable feat of consistency and leadership. The downside of having such a high baseline level of competency is that it’s difficult to acquire the piece you need to win, especially in the AFC: the quarterback. The highest pick they’ve been able to spend on a quarterback has been Kenny Pickett with the 20th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. No point in rehashing how that went.
The Steelers need to bottom out and if Tomlin didn’t want to do that, that’s fair and understandable. However, the idea that they’re just going to be able to stay as a playoff-relevant team for the near and long term future is a major question mark. This roster has only been good enough to scrape by into the playoffs where they’re quickly outmatched. Now that Tomlin is gone, seeing just how much value he was adding will be the biggest question for the team — beyond another offseason of quarterback musical chairs if Aaron Rodgers calls it quits.
Salute to 19 years at one job. That’s the kind of longevity and success 99% of NFL head coaches would dream of, even if it didn’t reach the peak heights over the last half of it. Winning is hard as hell to do for this long in this league, and the fourth Steelers head coach since 1969 has titan-level shoes to fill.
Shifting away from Kevin Patullo is only a slight fix for the Eagles
The Eagles’ tumultuous, dramatic, emotionally draining season came to an end with another disappointing offensive performance to close the year. This time, against one of the worst, most depleted defenses in the league in the 49ers, who are missing several big-ticket players on that side of the ball. Shortly following the Eagles’ season ended, offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo was relieved of his duties and the Eagles began the search for what will be the fourth play-caller of Nick Sirianni era’s six seasons. While Patullo certainly was one problem for the Eagles, some of the others they’re facing were around last year. It’s just a Super Bowl ring cures a lot of woes.
The core problem that everyone agrees with regarding the Eagles is simple: There’s just no reason for an offense this talented to have the ruts that they do. There’s too many Pro Bowlers and a couple future Hall of Famers, and the peaks of what all these players can be has already been glimpsed at various moments throughout this iteration of the Eagles. A.J. Brown’s arrival to Philadelphia was a godsend for this team, immediately helping take the passing game to a new level while having a stellar performance in the Eagles’ first Super Bowl against the Chiefs. Things have stagnated here, but it’s not all on the coaches that have been there. The players themselves have been inconsistent as well.
Last season, the ever-expressive Brown complained that “the passing” was an issue for the Eagles. Including the playoffs, the Eagles had 11 games with under 200 passing yards last season and seven of those games finished with 127 passing yards or fewer. Total net passing yards is not the cleanest way to assess the woes of the passing game, but that number is shockingly low for an offense with this many draft picks and contract extensions folded into it. Despite those troubles, the Eagles rode the legs of Saquon Barkley and a historically good defense en route to an emphatic Super Bowl victory over the Chiefs.
The Super Bowl is the goal in the NFL. Winning one can generate enough feel-good that the expectations remain high and previous struggles get lost to time. When those same problems reared their head this year — including two halves of football with zero completions — they were essentially treated as new and all blame landed in the lap of Patullo. While Patullo struggled, he didn’t invent the issues that revolved around the Eagles’ offense. That is what Sirianni and general manager Howie Roseman have to figure out this offseason.
It remains to be seen if big changes will be coming to the personnel on the Eagles’ offense, but they probably have about one year left of playing this poorly before things need a major shakeup. Brown obviously is not happy with how things have unfolded for him recently and there’s only so much longer this can be an issue hovering over the Eagles’ locker room. Just another day for this team.
The solution to Green Bay’s latest playoff failure may be hard to stomach right now
The Packers just can’t get over the hump. After blowing a 21-3 halftime lead and allowing Caleb Williams and the Bears to etch a historic win in the NFL’s oldest rivalry, Matt LaFleur’s feet have been held to the fire. The Packers did take an injured team on the road to one of the hottest teams in the league, but a three-possession lead blown in a half is a tough pill for everyone involved to swallow. The Packers’ all-in season ended in a complete mess with questions about how to proceed from here, but the likely answer might not sound satisfactory right now: just run it back and try again.
Green Bay’s defense was never able to maintain the hot start following the Micah Parsons trade, but by season’s end, even before Parsons was lost with a torn ACL, they were one of the worst defenses in the league. The Packers’ linebacker play took a huge step back and the defense was routinely getting worse as the games went along. The middle of the defense was already shaky — and then they lost defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt and Parsons for the season. That was just too much to overcome, and it showed as the Bears ate up chunks of yards in bursts in the second half on their way to knocking Green Bay out of the playoffs.
If the Packers believe injuries, which they suffered on offense as well to key players like Elgton Jenkins and Tucker Kraft, were the main root of their downfall, then running it back and crossing your fingers that the injury onslaught doesn’t happen again is a defensible strategy. However, Packers fans appear to be growing tired of getting to the playoffs and not being able to make a run to the Super Bowl, even though the team has made the playoffs in six out of the seven seasons LaFleur has been in charge.
Winning is hard in the NFL. It’s hard to find coaches who can win and develop quarterback talent, and LaFleur has proven himself to be competent enough at both that finding a realistic upgrade would be difficult. That’s something that everyone who watches this league should try to keep in mind as competency becomes weaponized over time when it never breaks through to the biggest wins: even being here is incredibly difficult. Getting to the playoffs once is hard. Getting there every year is harder.
This one stung. Because they had the win in their hands, and they have the quarterback talent necessary to go on a run even though the defense was banged up. But that doesn’t necessarily mean now is the time to blow it up. Try again next time.
Carolina gained the most of any loser this weekend
The Panthers might have lost a tough one against the Rams this weekend, but they should feel good about where they stand after trading blows with one of the Super Bowl favorites this postseason. There should be a renewed sense that the Panthers can be a more convincing representative of the playoff pool next season, should they win the dismal NFC South again. After a season that saw the highest peaks and lowest valleys, this last performance is at least a sign that they’re doing some things right — which can’t be said about the entirety of owner David Tepper’s regime. However, there’s a clearer vision of what steps this team needs to make ahead of what will be a crossroads for the team in 2026.
It’s a bit of a miracle that Bryce Young has gotten to a point where the Panthers picking up his fifth-year option makes sense. Considering where Young started in his career, as one of the worst first-round quarterbacks in the history of the league, the fact that he’s functional enough to be a starter for the Panthers in the postseason really is one of the more incredible development stories. There’s still a long way to go for Young before he can get the lucrative contract extension, because his physical limitations do put a hard cap on this offense sometimes, but at least it’s not a position they immediately need to upgrade for next season.
Carolina will be able to turn their attention toward the rest of the team, which needs some major upgrades — just like every other team in the NFC South. In their final regular season game of the season, the Panthers just did not have the talent to put away the Buccaneers and lost that game, needing the Falcons to beat the Saints in order to make the playoffs. Considering they just spent a first-round pick on rookie sensation wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, a few premium assets being put into defense or the offensive line is a strong idea to try and improve to keep this train moving. They have some solid pieces on both sides of the ball, but not nearly enough talent to be a real a Super Bowl contender.
Pass rush is a good starting point. Finding secondary help or help at linebacker is a smart play — really anything. This team is not far removed from picking in the top 10 of the 2025 NFL Draft and the overall team quality is only a few hairs better than a team picking in the top 10. They did have a losing record, that’s not even a controversial statement.
If Young is going to have his best chance of success to be the Panthers’ quarterback beyond next season, they need a lot to go right. But at least they’ve put themselves in position to be a truer version of a playoff contender next season.
