Steelers' Failure To Beat Bill Belichick Has Officially Changed Social Media Narrative On Mike Tomlin

The Pittsburgh Steelers have lost two home games in five days to 10-loss teams. The Steelers had a chance to win the AFC North, and now, barring a miracle, they will be lucky to win another game. Pittsburgh will face four opponents at or above .500 to finish the season and will not be the favorite in any of them.

It was an all too familiar foe who killed the 2023 Steelers. The New England Patriots and Bill Belichick outplayed and outcoached Pittsburgh on Thursday night. That is not a surprise on the surface; it has been going on for two decades. What is a surprise is that the Patriots had only won two games and were considered the worst offense in professional football. Belichick handed Mike Tomlin his second home defeat to a 10-loss team in less than a week and might have effectively ended his coaching tenure in Pittsburgh.

Social media has officially turned on Tomlin, and the national media sycophants who have defended him are likely not far behind. Rich Eisen scolded Steeler Nation after the embarrassing loss to the Arizona Cardinals last Sunday. One wonders what fresh lecture we can expect from him this week. Maybe the Michigan Wolverines have a booster with a big enough checkbook to lure him away from Pittsburgh. If not, Art Rooney II should seriously consider chipping in to get him out of Pittsburgh.

Tomlin won Super Bowl XLIII 15 years ago and appeared in Super Bowl XLVI 12 years ago. Since then, he has won three playoff games against seven losses and, barring a miracle, will have missed the playoffs in four of the last six seasons. It is not an exemplary record. 

Older fans who refused to tolerate Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher fielding teams that did not compete for AFC Championships have been furious with Tomlin for years. Even the staunchest Tomlin supporter, like the Managing Editor of SteelerNation.com, Brandon Wallace (aka B-Wall), now acknowledges that it might be time for a change. 

Tomlin is not a bad coach, but not the right coach for Pittsburgh in 2023. His name has become synonymous with a troubling verb and a disastrous adjective. "Tomlining," coined by ESPN's Mike Greenberg, described a brilliant coach winning despite a substandard roster. The "Tomlin" game, a pseudonym for a disastrous home loss to an inferior opponent, has not caught on nationally, but after two consecutive examples, maybe it will. 

Steelers' Incompetent Coaching Proves Terry Bradshaw Was Right

Tomlin was famously called a cheerleader by Terry Bradshaw, and the four-time Super Bowl champion was roasted as a hater. Any criticism of Tomlin has been swept under the rug by bad-faith actors in the national media who have chastised the fan base for demanding better. Tomlin's flaws have been painfully apparent over the last five seasons. He was always a bad tactician and clock manager. Tomlin is a "players" coach who has completely lost his roster. 

Omar Khan had a wildly successful draft in 2023. Broderick Jones, Joey Porter Jr., Keeanu Benton, and Darnell Washington look like long-term upgrades. A lousy coaching staff has underutilized all of them. The fact that Tomlin and his coordinators could not identify that the rookies were the best option at their positions in training camp proves that they can't evaluate or exploit the current talent on the roster. 

Make no mistake, this is not the late 1980s. Pittsburgh has plenty of talent on the roster. The Steelers have three potential Hall of Fame players on defense: Cam Heyward, TJ Watt, and Minkah Fitzpatrick. George Pickens might be the best combat catch weapon in the history of the NFL, and Tomlin's coaching staff refuses to feature him. The Patriots played Pickens one-on-one for virtually the entire game. It should have been a 10-catch performance with 100-plus yards. It wasn't. 

Tomlin apologists will shift the blame that Matt Canada's offense hopelessly tanked the season, and no meaningful change can occur until the offseason. Three games post Canada, it is time to lay the blame where it belongs at Tomlin's feet. The resume speaks for itself. 

He has never beaten a top-tier quarterback in the playoffs. Since losing to Aaron Rodgers in Super Bowl XLVI, the only quarterbacks he has beaten in the AFC playoffs are AJ McCarron, Matt Moore, and Alex Smith. He has only posted a double-digit win total in two of the last seven seasons and is currently on a four-game playoff losing streak. Tomlin will be lucky to post his third consecutive nine-win season. 

The winning season trope is the biggest myth in the modern NFL. The Steelers have only had seven losing seasons since 1972. Ben Roethlisberger only played one game in his entire career where the Steelers were eliminated from playoff contention. Pittsburgh truly believed it was ready to compete for a championship with the current roster, and they are not. Tomlin has failed with high-powered offenses and dominant defensive players for the last 12 years. It is time for a change. 

What do you think, Steeler Nation? Is the loss to the Patriots and Belichick the final straw, or are you still supporting Tomlin? Please comment below or on my Twitter/X: @thebubbasq. 

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