Heading into Sunday’s game against the Ravens, fans and the media turned the heat up on head coach Mike Tomlin, and rightfully so as the Steelers are falling way short of expectations.
But to say he’s not a great coach is absolutely stupid.
Yes, the Steelers have not won a playoff game under Tomlin since their 2017 wildcard win against the Miami Dolphins.
Yes, the defense can’t stop the run and is giving up too many big plays.
And yes, they still haven’t solved their quarterback problem.
But to say that now, after helming 19 years of non-losing football for the Black and Yellow, Tomlin is simply a good coach, or foolishly label him as overrated, is wildly ignorant.
On Sunday, the Steelers’ crucial 27-22 victory over the Ravens in Baltimore, coupled with the Bengals loss to Buffalo, loosened the collar slowly constricting Pittsburgh’s neck.
Yet the win did nothing for many fans which, instead of celebrating the team’s huge win over their hated rivals, continued their assault on Tomlin.
It’s well known that Tomlin (190-113-2) has never had a losing season. That’s something not even 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), Bill Belichick (8), Tony Dungy (1), Chuck Noll (7) or Bill Cowher (3) can claim.
Even active coaches like Andy Reid (3), Pete Carroll (4), Sean Payton (5) and John Harbaugh (2) have all had losing seasons.
But for the Tomlin haters, the continued losses in the postseason are all they can see.
Surprisingly, some of the hate came from former Steelers great, James Harrison, who said on his Deebo and Joe podcast that Tomlin was simply a good coach.
“I have never been a person that thought Coach Tomlin was a great coach,” said Harrison. “I thought he was a good [coach]…A good coach gets you to play to your potential. And right now, the players we have on that team I have seen play, they’re not playing up to their potential. A great coach gets you to play to your potential.”
This is ironic considering that Harrison played for Pittsburgh for three full seasons before Tomlin was hired in 2007, after which Harrison became a 5x Pro Bowler, 2x All Pro and Defensive Player of the Year. Although he attributes his success to defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, LeBeau coached Harrison for three seasons before Tomlin was hired and only then did Harrison’s career flourish.
Now to be fair, Tomlin deserves blame for some things, loyalty in particular.
He kept former offensive coordinator Matt Canada for too long and he’s repeating that same mistake with current defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, which is evident in the team’s inability to stop the run and continued allowance of big plays on third downs.
But the team’s biggest failure, finding a quarterback to succeed Ben Roethlisberger, falls more so on the GMs, particularly former GM Kevin Colbert.
They could have selected Lamar Jackson in 2018 but chose safety Terrell Edmunds instead. They could have picked Jalen Hurts in 2020 but went with receiver Chase Claypool. They made the mistake of taking Kenny Pickett in the first round in 2022 and in the 2025 NFL Draft, they could have taken Jaxson Dart or Shedeur Sanders; instead, they waited for Aaron Rodgers.
Last season, the team had both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. Fields started the season and went 4-2 before Tomlin made the switch to Wilson, who started 6-0 before losing 6 straight including the playoffs. During that streak, Tomlin refused to go to Fields and it cost them.
Tomlin is a great leader, which is what you need to be a head coach in the NFL, but his weakness in not adjusting to the changes in the NFL, specifically on the offensive side of the ball, is obvious.
Fields gave them that opportunity but Tomlin went conservative by reverting to an aged Wilson, who refused to throw to the middle of the field, and now Rodgers.
But in times of adversity, great coaches rally their teams, and Tomlin did that yet again in the win over Baltimore.
Unfortunately, the haters are already whining that it will be another 9-8/10-7 and one and done in the playoffs season. Based on precedent, I get it.
But to say Tomlin isn’t great and that he should be fired is foolish.
While rightfully frustrated, fans haven’t experienced a rebuild for almost 20 years. Maybe that’s what the team needs in order to become elite once again, but these fans should be mindful of what they ask for.
If Tomlin finally has his first losing season, then he and GM Omar Khan deserve the chance to rebuild like Hall of Famer Bill Cowher had.
Remember, this is the same man who coached a Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges led team in 2019 to an 8-8 record after Big Ben got hurt in week 2. That year was the first time the team had been outscored in a season (289-303) during Tomlin’s tenure.
FYI- Cowher had three seasons of being outscored.
Tomlin is also the man who coached the team to a 10-7 record in 2023 with Mitch Trubisky and a slew of injuries on both sides of the ball.
Yet Tomlin haters refuse to give him credit, even attributing his Super Bowl win to Cowher as Tomlin inherited his players.
In 2021, I wrote that it looked like Tomlin would have his first down season, yet he persevered and went 9-7-1.
If this is the year that Tomlin finally has his first losing season, so be it.
But he deserves the chance to rebuild, something he and all of Steelers Nation have never experienced since he arrived in 2007.
And if that happens, I bet he’ll show you haters once again what a great coach he is.
