PITTSBURGH — It’s a place steeped in winning tradition, with a proud franchise that celebrates its previous glory and trots out reminders of its famed history.
As the Terrible Towels waved Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, images of Franco Harris, “Mean” Joe Greene, Lynn Swann and Ben Roethlisberger played on the videoboard.
But there was only one team living in its past Sunday, and it wasn’t the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Following the Bucs’ 20-18 loss to an undermanned Steelers team that had dropped four in a row, started a rookie quarterback and dominated with a defense decimated by injuries, coach Todd Bowles said his players had received too many pats on the back from winning Super Bowl 55 two seasons ago.
“We didn’t take them lightly, number one. Number two, I think guys that are living off the Super Bowl are living in a fantasy land,” Bowles said after watching his team fall to 3-3 with its third loss in four games.
“You’ve got to get your hands dirty and go to work just like everybody else. We’ve been working hard, we’ve got to work harder. Nobody is going to give us anything or feel sorry. We’ve got to go back as coaches, as players, and the time for talking is over. You’ve either got to put up or shut up.”
The Bucs followed a familiar script as in losses to the Packers and Chiefs. They failed in short-yardage situations, melted down in the red zone and, until the fourth quarter, relied on (four) Ryan Succop field goals to score.
When the Bucs did get back in the game on Tom Brady’s only touchdown pass — an 11-yard catch-and-run by Leonard Fournette with 4:38 remaining — the game-tying conversion pass to Chris Godwin failed.
After that, Tampa Bay’s defense failed to get off the field, allowing the Steelers to convert on third-and-15 and third-and-11 and run out the clock. After starting the game 3-of-11 on third down, the Steelers went 4-for-4.
They did it to ice the game with backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky completing passes of 17 and 26 yards to receiver Chase Claypool.
Trubisky entered the game in the third quarter after rookie Kenny Pickett left with a concussion. By then, PIckett had staked the Steelers to a 13-12 lead.
After the game, Bucs players spoke in hushed tones in the locker room and appeared stunned by the loss.
It was a team effort. Once again, the offense failed in short-yardage situations despite a 240-pound running back in Fournette.
In the second quarter, the Bucs faced second-and-1 at the Steelers’ 1-yard line. But Fournette was dropped for a 3-yard loss and Brady was sacked by Cameron Heyward on the next play, forcing them to settle for Succop’s 27-yard field goal.
“We could not get 1 yard on third- and fourth-and-short,” Bowles said. “We had stalls in the red zone. I don’t think we coached it well, and I don’t think we played it well.”
Brady, who skipped the Bucs’ walk-through practice and meetings Saturday morning to attend the wedding of Patriots owner Robert Kraft Friday in New York City, was less than his best against a Steelers secondary that was missing four starters.
“It’s just execution, you know?” Brady said. “We’ve just all got to do a better job. We’ll go back, watch the tape. Obviously, a lot to correct.
“We didn’t earn it. We didn’t earn the win. It’s a game of earning it, and it’s a game of playing well and performing well, and we’re just not doing a good job of that. I don’t think we’ve done it for six weeks. We’re all playing less than we’re capable of, and we’ve all got to look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out why.”
Bowles said Brady attending the wedding didn’t affect his performance.
“No, he didn’t miss anything,” the coach said. “He had a full week of practice.”
Asked specifically if it affected Brady’s lack of production in the red zone, Bowles said, “absolutely not.”
Brady finished 25-of-40 passing for 243 yards and a touchdown. But he failed to connect on five of his first six targets to Godwin, who led the Bucs with six catches for 95 yards on 12 targets.
“It doesn’t matter what guys you have on your team, how good they are, if you’re not on the same page, if your chemistry is not there, it’s not going to matter,” Godwin said. “How you fix those things is, you go to practice.
“It’s the first time this team has been together, and we can’t rely on anything in the past to fix things for us now. We’ve got to put in the work every day, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Bowles, who inherited from Bruce Arians what the Bucs claimed was a Super Bowl contender with Brady back, seemed to suggest following the game that players were living off their reputations.
“I didn’t say we were,” Bowles said, trying to clarify. “I’m just saying you get patted on the back so much … Every year and every week, you’ve got to go out there and earn your pay and earn your keep. And if you don’t live like that, then there’s going to be a result like (Sunday’s).”
