The Pittsburgh Steelers hired Mike Tomlin 16 seasons ago and he has won 163 regular season games for the franchise. He started his career with a 5-2 postseason record and a Super Bowl championship in two appearances during his first four seasons as a coach. Tomlin’s last 12 seasons have produced a 3-7 record in the playoffs and the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since the 2016 campaign.
Footbahlin With Ben Roethlisberger | YouTube: Channel Seven
Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger.
Ben Roethlisberger was the quarterback for virtually Tomlin’s entire tenure, and he gave way to Kenny Pickett this season after his retirement. Episode 21 of his Footbahlin With Ben Roethlisberger podcast may have revealed that the future Hall of Fame quarterback had some friction with his long-time coach and staff that was well hidden during his playing days:
“I have to just congratulate Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy, they just are so stinking good,” Roethlisberger begins. “They are different level coaches; they are up here. They are going to be up there as long as Andy Reid’s there and Patrick Mahomes are there.”
The Kansas City Chiefs have made five consecutive AFC Championship Games and three Super Bowls since Patrick Mahomes took over as the starter. The entire AFC is chasing the Chiefs and Roethlisberger astutely points out that the combination of coaches and quarterback in Kansas City is a seamless blend of incredible talent:
“To me, Andy Reid should go down as one of the best of all time,” Roethlisberger continues. “I heard he lets players like design plays, and he will contemplate putting them in. To truly have an open door and listen to guys and not just say, 'Oh yeah, I’ll think about it.'”
Roethlisberger was famous for his improvisation skills, and he was not above making plays up on the fly. It was rumored that in 2020, when the Steelers’ season was falling apart, he drew plays in the dirt to defeat Philip Rivers and the Indianapolis Colts. The Steelers would go on to lose the remaining games of that season, including an embarrassing playoff loss to the Cleveland Browns. The offense stagnated down the stretch that season and Matt Canada has somehow made it worse since he took over in 2021.
Footbahlin With Ben Roethlisberger | YouTube: Channel Seven
Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger.
It is hard to discern from his comments if Roethlisberger is criticizing Canada, Todd Haley, or Tomlin with his comments. However, only one of them spent the last 15 seasons of his career with him. Roethlisberger was close to Bruce Arians, but famously clashed with Haley before the organization just handed the job to Randy Fichtner to placate their aging franchise quarterback.
Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger And Bruce Arians Had A Special Relationship That Organization Wanted To End
Arians revealed how much better Roethlisberger was when he involved him in play-calling and the former signal caller's statement reveals that he believes that his career would have benefited from the collaborative relationship Reid has with his quarterbacks. The decision to part ways with Arians never sat well with Roethlisberger and while he was better statistically, the Steelers' postseason success became more and more elusive.
Tomlin is a defensive coach, but if his Hall of Fame quarterback was coming forward with suggestions and they just gave him lip service. It could explain why later in his career he was criticized for not coming to camp in the best shape and seeming not to care. Highly successful offenses take their franchise quarterback’s suggestions and the casual disregard for his ideas obviously bothered him.
Roethlisberger might have been changing plays on the fly and ignoring his offensive coordinator as payback for friction behind the scenes. It is obvious from his statement that he doesn’t believe whatever was going on in the Pittsburgh quarterback room was a collaborative environment. The question is, how long did he feel this way and have the Steelers lost opportunities because the coaching staff’s egos got in the way?
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Are you surprised by Roethlisberger’s shot at the Steelers coaching staff? Please comment below or on my Twitter @thebubbasq.
