Mike Tomlin on Steelers' struggles

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In the wake of the worst loss in more than three decades, Mike Tomlin owned his team's failures.

We have to own that we were a disaster in all three phases. It begins with me when it is that bad. There's enough blame to go around and we don't need to be comforted. We have to be solution oriented.

After the 38-3 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday dropped his team to 1-4 with four consecutive losses, he said he would consider making any changes needed to get the team going in the right direction. The loss to the Bills was the most one-sided of the year.

The Bills scored 38 points, which was the most allowed by the Pittsburgh's defense this season. The team is second-to-last in the league in passing yards per attempt and has only two touchdown passes. Only three teams in the league don't have a run of 20 yards or more. The Steelers are giving up more passing yards than any other team in the league.

While he was sincere in his words after the game, he wasn't going to make changes unless they produced better results.

He said he wouldn't change for the sake of changing, to shoot a hostage, or anything of that nature. "If changes produce better outcomes or seem to produce better outcomes, or we feel like it puts us in position to produce better outcomes, then I'm open to it."

Arthur Maulet challenged his teammates in the locker room after the loss in Buffalo. After watching game film he noticed his players' frustration and disappointment in the final minutes of the game, but he said he was more concerned with his team's lack of execution than their demeanor. The coach said he didn't have a problem with his players expressing their displeasure.

He said that when you're getting smashed like that, emotions and pissed-off-ness are a part of it. If you think that it isn't, you're naive. We don't want to get hit. The things of that nature are normal expressions of frustration. Competitors do that when they get smashed. I won't read too much into it.

The coach acknowledged that his team has big-picture issues that can't be solved quickly, and he preached unity in the face of adversity.

He said that they wouldn't cure their ills in one or a couple of good days. We're going to have to put our heads down and work hard and stay together for a long time as we try to get back to respectability. I think it is a mindset that we all need to have.

They're not easy to fix. It won't be based on one performance or plan. We are going to be working our tails off as we prepare for this next opportunity.

In one day, we did not dig ourselves into this situation. We won't dig ourselves out of this situation in a single performance.