VIDEO: 'Difficult' job awaits Bulls after loss
The Bulls coach was very optimistic of their qualification campaign leading up to the Brumbies encounter.
However, after Saturday’s result, the Bulls found themselves at the bottom of the South African conference and 11th on the overall log.
The Bulls sit with 24 log points just one point behind fourth-placed Stormers, who have played one extra game.
When asked about the Pretoria side's qualification prospects, Mitchell said: "[The defeat to the Brumbies] certainly makes it a lot more difficult.
"It would have been nice to get a win and keep winning.
"We just have to restock‚ refuel and focus on each game at a time. That is the way it is," he added.
It was a highly contested match but could have been easily won by the Bulls when the Brumbies were reduced to 14-man after hooker Folau Fainga'a was red-carded for head-butting replacement Matthys Basson in the 62nd minute.
Instead, it was the Brumbies who took control of proceedings in the final stages. The Australians scored two tries in four minutes leaving the Bulls to ponder on where it all went pear-shaped.
"We let it slip in the last 20 minutes and in a nutshell that is basically what made the difference, " Mitchell said.
"I thought there was one decision where we chose to go for the posts where we should have gone to the corner especially at that point when they had the red card – that is one decision that could have influenced the game.
"But at the end of the day whenever there is a poor performance the first person I look at it's myself.
"I take responsibility and would love to see where we [as the coaching team] failed the group in our preparations.
"Without making any excuses we are thin upfront with injuries and we have a lot of players developing in Super Rugby.
"This is what we have to go through because there is no magic solution‚ we have lost Marco van Staden and Roelof Smit in his game against the Brumbies and the numbers are climbing in terms of injuries,"
The Bulls now have a break before tackling the Sunwolves in Tokyo on June 30.
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