Based on the media’s intensely critical coverage of Mike Tomlin over these last few weeks, you would think that the Steelers are tanking to secure a higher draft spot.
It’s bad enough that the media and fans are bringing the heat down on Tomlin and are calling for the end of his tenure, but now even some of his former players are bringing the torches to his front door.
If the Steelers lose two of its final three games, this will be the first losing season of Tomlin’s coaching career.
HIS FIRST!!!!
As a die-hard Steelers fan since the 70s, I say that every single person calling for the end of Tomlin’s tenure should be ashamed.
Tomlin’s Resume Stands Alone
Mike Tomlin has a Hall of Fame resume.
Two Super Bowl appearances with one victory, all-time winningest Black coach in NFL history, a record of 170-100 (.629 winning percentage), and up to this point, he has still never had a losing season in his 17-year career in Pittsburgh.
None of the greatest coaches in league history can make that claim. Not a single one, regardless of the era.
Don Shula (1), George Halas (6), Tom Landry (8), Paul Brown (4), Marty Shottenheimer (2), Dan Reeves (9), Chuck Knox (8), Bill Parcells (5), Tom Coughlin (8), Mike Shanahan (7) and Tony Dungy (1) all have at least one losing season.
Active coaches like Bill Belichick (8), Andy Reid (3), Pete Carroll (4), Sean Payton (4) and John Harbaugh (2) all have a losing season as well.
Even the Steelers’ other two coaches, Chuck Noll (7) and Bill Cowher (3) have had losing seasons.
But not Mike Tomlin.
Not only has he never had a losing season, he also has a Super Bowl ring unlike some of the aforementioned coaches. He might have had two if Ben Roethlisberger hadn’t thrown two INTs, including one pick-six, in Super Bowl XLV. Yet somehow disgruntled Steelers fans fail to remember that performance when discussing Tomlin’s career.
Now, is Mike Tomlin exempt from blame? Absolutely not.
He should have fired Matt Canada after last season and pursued a dynamic offensive coordinator like Eric Bieniemy. He should have convinced former Steelers GM Kevin Colbert to select Ben Roethlisberger’s heir, Jalen Hurts, in the 2020 NFL Draft instead of Chase Claypool.
But one of Pittsburgh’s best and worst qualities is loyalty.
So while it’s frustrating that the team didn’t move on from Canada quicker, adjust to the pass-happy NFL more readily, and invest in a QB succession plan for life after Roethlisberger sooner (Mason Rudolph wasn’t the answer), it’s understandable based upon the cultural history of the organization.
It’s the reason why the team has only had three coaches in its history.
Tomlin vs Cowher
Tomlin took over for Cowher, who was, and still is, loved by all Steelers Nation, and rightfully so.
During his 15 years in Pittsburgh, Cowher continued the smash-mouth, hard-hitting, run-first style that Pittsburgh was accustomed to.
Yet Cowher had three losing seasons, missed the playoffs five times and won one out of two Super Bowls (like Tomlin, Cowher had a QB, Neil O’Donnell, ruin his chance at a ring with 3 INTs, one a pick-six, in Super Bowl XXX). He also led the Steelers to a 15-1 record in Big Ben’s rookie year but got blown out by the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh.
This is not to compare the greatness of the two coaches. Instead, I point this out because of the way Tomlin gets criticized for the same shortcomings that Cowher isn’t dragged for.
Detractors of Tomlin love to point out that Tomlin won Super Bowl XLIII with Bill Cowher’s team, but they fail to recall history properly.
In the three years leading up to his first Super Bowl victory, Cowher went 10-5-1, 6-10 and 15-1 before winning Super Bowl XL with an 11-5 record that season. The next year the team went 8-8 in Cowher’s final season, after which Tomlin took the reins as the team’s new head coach in 2007 at the age of 34.
That year, Tomlin led the team to a winning record of 10-6. In year two, he went 12-4 and won his first Super Bowl title at 36, becoming the youngest head coach to win a Lombardi trophy in NFL history (the Rams’ Sean McVay is now the youngest after his SB LVI win in 2021). In 2010, Tomlin made it back to the Super Bowl where Big Ben devolved into Neil O’Donnell.
So why does Cowher get the opportunity to rebuild after a losing season three times, but now that Tomlin might have his first, it’s time for him to be expelled?
Tomlin has missed the playoffs seven times, including the last two seasons, and his last playoff victory came in the 2016 season. But he has led his teams through major injuries like Roethlisberger’s 2019 week 2 season-ending arm injury and still managed to go 8-8. The following season the team went 12-4 despite being called flawed and a “fraudulent 12-4”.
Yet the Steelers were still 12-4!
Current Day Steelers
This season, the Steelers’ defense has been ravaged by injury.
Cam Heyward missed six games, Minkah Fitzpatrick will now miss five and the entire linebacker unit has been decimated by season-ending injuries. And the offense, hampered by Matt Canada, Kenny Pickett’s injury, and Mitch Trubisky’s interceptions, must now turn to Mason Rudolph to keep the team’s playoff hopes alive.
Yet Tomlin still has the Steelers at 7-7.
Some fans are screaming that Tomlin has lost the locker room due to the lack of effort of receivers Diontae Johnson and George Pickens.
Yet no player is posting unauthorized live videos from the locker room or publicly ripping Tomlin. And 51 other players seem to be playing their hearts out.
So it’s just two players in particular who are not giving their all. They will be dealt with internally as the Steelers always do. And if they don’t change, they’ll be bounced out and replaced like Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell were.
If Mike Tomlin experiences his first losing season, he deserves the opportunity to rebuild just like every other coach mentioned previously had.
The problem with Steelers fans is that we are spoiled by success. Losing and rebuilding aren’t part of our vocabulary.
But the current Steelers are not the Steelers of old. They may never be that way again.
All teams change.
Some find new ways to win, like the Chiefs, Eagles, Ravens and Lions. Some, like the Patriots, Giants and Falcons, haven’t and others, like the Panthers and Bears, continue to shoot themselves in the foot through poor coaching decisions.
With first-year GM Omar Khan drafting young talents like Broderick Jones, Joey Porter Jr, Darnell Washington and Nick Herbig, Tomlin has the talent to rebuild.
And once he hires a real offensive coordinator who can help the offense and the development of Pickett, he will fix the mistake he made with Canada.
So once he has the team back on track next season, will the media give Mike Tomlin the same amount of coverage for his success as it did over these last few weeks for his losses?
I know I’ll be watching with receipts in hand.
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