MIKE TOMLIN | PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

Of all the disappointments associated with the Steelers’ latest one-and-done foray into the playoffs — and there were enough that Mike Tomlin used the words “disappointed,” “disappointing” and “disappointment” six times in the first 16 or so minutes of his approximately 33-minute postmortem — one stood out.

“I thought this collective was better positioned, maybe more so than in recent years, to not be in this similar place. But we are,” Tomlin maintained.

They certainly appeared to be better positioned when they were 10-3. The five-game losing streak that concluded with the Steelers’ fifth consecutive loss in their first game of a postseason, a 28-14 debacle suffered at the hands of the Ravens in Baltimore, confirmed otherwise.

“They were the better team on Saturday night,” Tomlin assessed. “I thought that was displayed and that is not comfortable to say, but it is the truth.”

Left unsaid, perhaps because Tomlin just couldn’t bring himself to say it, was that the Ravens were also the tougher team, the more engaged team and the one team on the field at M&T Bank Stadium that brought the prerequisite level of fight — individually and collectively — that Steelers-Ravens games have traditionally demanded.

And that part isn’t disappointing. It’s alarming.

Tomlin was given two opportunities to address that aspect of the season, another that ended in a playoff trainwreck, in what was otherwise a seemingly transparent and from-the-heart exchange with the media on Tuesday.

When asked specifically about the “engagement level” and whether his defense brought what was needed to the “fight,” Tomlin talked about the “unique challenge” presented by the Ravens and the running ability of their quarterback, Lamar Jackson.

Later on, Tomlin was indirectly asked about a question raised by color analyst Kirk Herbstreit on the television broadcast: “Where the hell is the fight?” Tomlin dismissed “opinions,” specifically those that “everyone’s entitled to” but “aren’t often reality to me.”

In this instance, Herbstreit’s analysis late in the first half — “They’re just going through the motions” — couldn’t have painted a more realistic picture.

The tape is littered with examples of defensive linemen on their backs, linebackers waiting in gaps rather than attacking downhill and defensive backs either passively attempting a tackle or being stiff-armed into oblivion. It was the most un-Steeler-like performance conceivable in that regard.

And it cost them not just a playoff game, but their identity and their hard-earned seat at the table in what up until last Saturday night had been one of football’s greatest rivalries.

That will have to be acknowledged and owned by the likes of Keeanu Benton, Patrick Queen, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Donte Jackson, to name just a few. It will also need to be owned and addressed by Tomlin before the Steelers have a chance to think about doing any better the next time they make the playoffs.

Fixing the instability at quarterback going into a fourth consecutive offseason is job one.
Addressing the insufficiency of the wide receiver position is, likewise, high on the offseason to-do list.

And the inadequacy of the gameplans (offensively in the regular-season finale against Cincinnati and defensively in the postseason at Baltimore) must be scrutinized.

But what they lacked in terms of schematics, personnel or division of labor paled in significance to what the defense, in particular, didn’t bring into the fray against the Ravens. Tomlin had opened his remarks by maintaining the disappointment the Steelers are experiencing in the wake of Ravens 28, Steelers 14 shouldn’t be confused with misfortune.

“There’s football justice,” he acknowledged. “You get what you deserve.”

Truer words may never have been spoken.

Mike Prisuta is the sports anchor/reporter for Randy Baumann and the DVE Morning Show. He’s also the host of the Steelers Radio Network Pregame Show and the color analyst for Robert Morris University men’s hockey broadcasts.