Clear your mind and visualize this NFL coach.
He’s never had a losing season in his fourteen-year career.
He owns a career regular-season head coaching record of 146-78-1, a winning percentage of .649.
He has guided his team to six division championships, two Super Bowl appearances, and one Lombardi Trophy victory.
Now say that coach’s name.
No, it’s not Andy Reid (222-130-1, .628 winning percentage with three losing seasons) or Sean Payton (144-81, .638 winning percentage with four losing seasons).
The correct answer is the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin, a great coach who has yet to receive his just due among the ranks of the coaching elite.
It’s frustrating, yet sadly not surprising, to hear the doubters unfairly pile their criticism upon Tomlin, only the third head coach in Steelers’ history. No matter the game’s outcome, it always feels like Tomlin receives some sort of criticism. Even when they win it feels like critics are ready to pounce on individual plays as opposed to the outcome.
When Antonio Brown decided to expose his team by a social media broadcast from the team’s locker room, critics insinuated that Tomlin was losing control of the team.
When Le’Veon Bell sat out the season in a contract dispute, critics questioned Tomlin’s leadership skills as two of their stars, and two of the best players in the league no longer wanted to be a part of the organization that drafted them.
Yet instead of succumbing to the pressure placed upon him by fans and the media, Tomlin, and the team for that matter, stayed the course and refused to stumble into the media pitfalls.
Instead, he and management purged the roster of the distractions and the discontent, maintained their “next man up” mantra, and focused upon drafting and bringing in players who were more concerned with the team than themselves.
Two years later, the Steelers drafted impact players like Devin Bush, Dionte Johnson, Chase Claypool, and Alex Highsmith. They signed free agent Eric Ebron and went 12-4 last season.
After losing to the Browns in the first round of the playoffs, critics torched the team so badly that you would think the Steelers were 0-16.
Many called the team a fraud and blasphemed their record.
They had the worst ground game in the league, yet they still went 12-4 and won another AFC North title.
So what does that say for the teams that they beat?
While Tomlin did an amazing, coach of the year deserving job last season, one of the best in his Canton-bound career, it was his efforts in the team’s 2019 season that should have convinced his detractors of his greatness.
No Big Ben, a hobbled JuJu Smith-Schuster and John Conner, and back-up quarterbacks who couldn’t maintain their initial success. Thanks to their defense, they competed until the very end, finishing 8-8 and second in the AFC Noth.
That disappointing season marked the FIRST time in Tomlin’s career that the team had been outscored in a season (289-303). Even the team’s newest Hall of Fame coach Bill Cowher had three of those seasons. But Tomlin has only had one.
One, in fifteen years.
What’s Rebuilding?
Despite this, most still refuse to truly acknowledge the coaching job he did in 2019, a season which some viewed as a potential rebuilding year once they lost Big Ben to season-ending elbow surgery.
But Tomlin has never had a rebuilding season, something all other coaches have experienced at least once in their careers. Even the great Bill Belichick is going through a period of rebuilding after Tom Brady’s departure.
Tomlin’s “next man up” philosophy refuses to acknowledge and/or dwell on a loss. Instead, he focuses on plugging the holes in the ship with the talent in waiting.
Through hard work both on the field and in the film room done by Tomlin, GM Kevin Colbert, and the team staff, the Steelers have avoided the painstaking process of sub-.500 or rebuilding seasons.
His teams have never quit on him despite the circumstance and they’ve drafted extremely well, particularly at the wide receiver position where little-known players like Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Dionte Johnson, and Chase Claypool became immediate contributors and/or big-time performers.
They say the mark of a great leader is that they inspire others around them to perform at a high level despite the obstacles and adversity they face. They have the ability to make others excel past expectations and succeed when others expect them to fail.
Tomlin has done this with the majority of his teams and players.
Look at the performances of players like James Harrison, Lawrence Timmons, and the aforementioned AB while with Pittsburgh, and then look at how they fared after they left. Brown’s only saving grace was Tom Brady.
This isn’t a knock on them, but rather a testament to the character, ethics, and tactics of the Steelers’ head coach.
A year removed from their surprising 8-8 season, Tomlin led the team back to the playoffs.
Even more interestingly, and historic, is the fact that during a time of social unrest, George Floyd’s murder, and the fight for justice, Tomlin passed his mentor, Tony Dungy, to become the all-time winningest Black coach in NFL history (regular and post-season victories).
Dungy (148), Marvin Lewis (131), Dennis Green (117), and Lovie Smith (92) are all now looking up at the youngest of these great coaches as Tomlin, 48, has now amassed 154 total wins.
The Elite Coaching Clique
Despite his success and resume, Tomlin is seldom mentioned in the ranks of the coaching elite.
On New Year’s Day 2021, Colin Herd continued this atrocity while discussing the future of J.J. Watt on “The Herd”, stating “J.J. Watt has earned the right, and deserves, to play for a Belichick, Andy Reid or Sean Payton.”
Why doesn’t he deserve to play for Mike Tomlin?
And what about the Steelers’ top-ranked defense and the fact that Watt’s two brothers also play for Tomlin?
For some reason, Tomlin remains an outsider in the elite coaching clique, yet he’s more than proven his worth over his career.
While it might sting him in private, the Steelers’ head coach doesn’t dwell on these slights. He stays focused and concentrates on performance. His attitude, faith in his team, and passion for the game have crafted this team into what it is.
The standard.
Last season, Tomlin deserved more consideration for Coach of the Year, yet he didn’t even finish in the top 3.
This year, Steelers’ fans were worried that ongoing contract negotiations with TJ Watt might keep him off the field. But that was resolved on Wednesday when, according to Adam Schefter, Watt took charge from his agents and signed with the team, despite possibly leaving more money on the table.
Watt’s new five-year deal, according to ESPN.com, includes a four-year extension worth $112 million. He also receives a $35 million signing bonus and $80 million guaranteed over the next three years.
Bottom line, Watt signed that deal because he loves Pittsburgh and wants to play for coach Tomlin.
With that resolved, Tomlin and the Steelers marched into Buffalo on Sunday as an underdog. The majority of betting sites and media outlets had Pittsburgh starting the season 0-1.
But with the game on the line, they blocked and punt and ran it in for a touchdown. That score and a Chris Boswell field goal ultimately sealed the game for Pittsburgh, proving the “experts” wrong and probably costing lots of bettors outside of the Steel City a lot of money.
Mike Tomlin continues to prove that he is one of the best in the league and has been for the last 15 seasons.
With the exception of Steelers Nation, too many have omitted Tomlin from the elite coaching list for too long.
But for those neglecting to pay attention, Tomlin has been on that list for years.
