Steelers Now
CHICAGO — The decision by Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin to punt the ball away with two minutes remaining and his team trailing by three points to the Chicago Bears on Sunday was questioned by many, but he’s standing by his decision, even after the Steelers lost, 31-28.
Tomlin had a choice to make with the Steelers trailing by three, just in advance of the 2-minute warning. The Pittsburgh offense was facing a fourth-and-9 at its own 23-yard line. Tomlin had all three timeouts, and had to choose between punting, and needing his defense to make a stop in order to get the ball back — a choice that would put his offense in a time crunch if they even got the ball back — and going for it on fourth down.
He chose to punt, and the Steelers got the defensive stop, but Mason Rudolph and company could not complete the drive. The Steelers’ hopes of winning the game were extinguished when Rudolph’s fourth-down pass from the Chicago 47-yard line was tipped and fell incomplete.
“I did not. I was holding all three,” Tomlin said. “And as you can see, we got the ball back.”
PIT decided to punt to CHI from the PIT 23 on 4th & 9 with 2:01 remaining in the 4th while losing 28 to 31.
With a Surrender Index of 9.17, this punt ranks at the 94th percentile of cowardly punts of the 2025 season, and the 91st percentile of all punts since 1999.
— Surrender Index 90 (@surrender_idx90) November 23, 2025
According to the Surrender Index, the decision to kick the can down the road earned a grade of 9.17.
“This punt ranks at the 94th percentile of cowardlly punts of the 2025 season, and the 91st percentile of all punts since 1999,” Surrender Index 90 wrote Sunday on X.
Brendan Howe contributed reporting to this story.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers HC Mike Tomlin Doubles Down on Controversial Decision
