Steelers' Mike Tomlin May Have Overcome His Fatal Flaw: "It Was One Of The Things That Stood Out"

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a crucial season coming up in 2024. It has been seven seasons since the Steelers last won a playoff game, and now that major changes have been made along the roster, it's time to change that. Pittsburgh revamped their quarterback room, got a new and proven offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith, and had one of the best draft classes in the league. All the talent is there to go far in the postseason, but it will come down to the coaching to get this team there.

Head Coach Mike Tomlin has taken a lot of the blame for the Steelers' recent shortcomings in the playoffs, and rightfully so. A lot of that has to do with Tomlin's decisions along his coaching staff. Promoting Matt Canada to offensive coordinator in the first place, and then keeping him around for over two seasons is the biggest mistake Tomlin has made as of late. That's just one of the poor hires Tomlin has made, but insider Mark Kaboly believes Tomlin may have fixed his fatal flaw. 

Kaboly's observation comes at an interesting time, as Tomlin was just scrutinized by a former Steelers executive for being bad at hiring coaches on his staff. Along with making bad initial hires, Tomlin fails to develop coaches as well, hence his lack of a coaching tree. There is no doubt that Tomlin is a good coach; in fact he is one of the best in the league. Players all over the NFL talk about wanting to play for him, but if he has a weakness in his coaching style, it is how he goes about hiring assistant coaches.

Tomlin has seemed to have made some good decisions this offseason. The main move of course being hiring Smith as the team's new offensive coordinator. Smith ran one of the best offenses in the league back in 2019 and 2020. In addition to Smith, a lot of the offensive coaching staff was revamped.

Tom Arth is the new quarterbacks coach, while Zach Azzanni is the new wide receivers coach. Players have already had some amazing things to say about Azzanni and his abilities as a coach, and he is considered a great option to get the best out of the group of receivers behind George Pickens. 

Justin Fields has also had great things to say about his new quarterbacks coach in Arth, calling him the most detailed coach he has ever had. Pittsburgh has also made some changes on the defensive side too, hiring Anthony Midget as the new assistant secondary coach. Midget has said to be well over-qualified for the role, which should point towards him being a good hire by Tomlin and Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin. Other important hires over the last few seasons include Aaron Curry and Jason Brooks.

Steelers' Mike Tomlin Finally Looked Outside Of The Organization

It feels like it has been ages since the Steelers have had a competent offensive coordinator. The Canada-saga was long and drawn out, and his predecessor, Randy Fichtner, wasn't much better. An interesting similarity between these two is that they were both hired from within the organization, as they were each promoted from their initial role of quarterbacks coach. 

Once Canada was fired during the 2023 season, Quarterbacks Coach Mike Sullivan and Running Backs Coach Eddie Faulkner took over the role together. Fans were worried the organization was trending towards making the same mistake once again, but thankfully Tomlin made the decision to hire Smith. 

Both Sullivan and Faulkner are still with the organization. Sullivan took a new role as a senior offensive assistant, while Faulkner remains the running backs coach. 

What do you think about Tomlin's history of bad hires? Comment below.

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