The Pittsburgh Steelers and Mike Tomlin have been together for 16 seasons. The Steelers have had amazing highs under Tomlin and some frustrating lows. The franchise won Super Bowl XLIII and appeared in Super Bowl XLVI going 1-1. They also have only won three playoff games since their last Super Bowl appearance with some embarrassing losses.
Antonella Cresimbeni
Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin has been able to join Bill Cowher and Chuck Noll in the lineage of legendary coaches in Pittsburgh.
Tomlin is a curious case in NFL coaching. He gets very little credit for the wins early in his tenure as the Steelers coach. The perception is that he won with Bill Cowher’s players. Almost all coaches inherit good players unless they take over a moribund franchise like the Cleveland Browns.
Cowher won a division title in his first season as head coach, but he does not carry the same stigma as winning with Chuck Noll’s players. Noll of course started from scratch, and by the time the Steelers made the playoffs in his fourth season, only five players remained from his first team. It magnifies just how effective the Steelers were at evaluating talent before free agency.
Screenshot from Media Interview
Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin speaks to the media in Phoenix, Arizona while attending the Annual League Meetings.
Pro Football Talk founder Mike Florio is a big fan of Tomlin. He joined The PM Team w/Poni & Mueller Wednesday afternoon. Andrew Fillipponi, who recently welcomed a daughter is on vacation, so Chris Mueller and Jeff Hathhorn were visiting with Florio when he dropped a shocking revelation about his top 10 coach rankings.
“I put him at number two. Patriots fans will be upset with me for putting Belichick at three,” Florio stated. “There may be more Steelers fans upset with me that I put Tomlin at number two. You lose two games in a row, and they want to fire him.”
Steelers' Mike Tomlin Might Be Doing A Better Job Than He Gets Credit For With Fans
Many Steelers fans have grown weary of the embarrassing losses in big games. TJ Watt has never participated in a playoff victory. Cam Heyward is almost certainly a lock for the Hall of Fame, but the clock is ticking on a career that has never played in an AFC Championship game. Tomlin shoulders much of the responsibility for recent failures, but a case can be made that Kevin Colbert deserves much of the blame.
“Tomlin, what he has accomplished over the years, he consistently makes the whole greater than the sum of the parts. Consistently, year in and year out. He thrives on adversity. I think he speaks to each individual player in a way that gets the absolute most out of them. That’s what you are looking for in a coach,” Florio observed.
There is no disputing Tomlin might be the best communicator in the NFL today. Very few coaches in the history of the NFL have had Tomlin’s ability in front of the media and with players. The Antonio Brown incident initially chipped away at his armor as a disciplinarian, but the All-Pro receiver's stops with Jon Gruden, Bill Belichick, and Bruce Arians demonstrated that Tomlin was the best at dealing with his mercurial personality.
Photo Credit: Matt Freed / Post Gazette
Steelers former wide receiver, Antonio Brown and Head Coach, Mike Tomlin.
Florio said, “I’ve heard from enough other people around the league, that when some of these guys leave the Steelers, not just Antonio Brown, other guys too, I had no idea this guy was this much of a pain in the butt. What is Mike Tomlin doing to keep these guys in line? He’s never had a losing season and he is not appreciated nearly as much as he should be.”
Florio ranking Tomlin ahead of Belichick in his coaching rankings is a significant shift. The PFT founder ranked him third just one year ago behind Andy Reid and the Patriots head coach. This is not the first time that Florio has extolled the virtues of Tomlin and it certainly won’t be the last.
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Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter: @JSKO_PHOTO)
Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin smiles through the team's pregame warmups in Pittsburgh, PA.
It boils down to what the fan base expects of the Steelers. They have been relevant under Tomlin. He has only coached one game in his career where the Steelers were not eligible for the postseason. Tomlin has both a Super Bowl victory and the longest playoff win drought since Noll took over the team in 1969. Winning seasons are not enough for Steelers fans, but they should not be completely dismissed either.
Tomlin, depending on the results of 2023, may need what Dan Rooney did for Noll in 1988. Rooney forced Noll to purge his coaching staff and the Steelers immediately returned to the playoffs in 1989. They won a playoff game as the Wild Card and nearly upset the Denver Broncos. Tomlin may not like it, but if he can’t deliver in January, it is time to get him the help he needs to do it.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Do you agree with Florio’s ranking of Tomlin? Please comment below or on my Twitter @thebubbasq.
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