Steelers' Mike Tomlin Joins 3 Other Coaches In Rare Horrendous NFL Feat

Despite a five-game losing streak and a six-game playoff losing streak, the Pittsburgh Steelers have no plans of letting Head Coach Mike Tomlin go just yet. He will be coaching his 19th season with the team in 2025. It will also be his ninth season since his last playoff win, as it came back in the 2016 season. Many fans and members of the media are shocked about how he is allowed to somehow be back after that string of failure. 

Andrew Fillipponi pulled up a stat that shows how rare it truly is for coaches to stick around after failing to win a playoff game for eight years with the same team. 

The first guy on the list is Don Shula, who came off of back-to-back Super Bowl championships, including a 17-0 campaign. After those two titles, his Miami Dolphins became similar to Tomlin's Steelers: regular season warriors that occasionally made the playoffs, but never did anything substantial in the first round.

However, as Fillipponi mentioned, he did make the Super Bowl to break that streak. Unfortunately, it comes with an asterisk, as the 1982 season was shortened due to a strike. Shula's Dolphins went 7-2 in the odd season and won the AFC before losing in the big game. He would go to the Super Bowl one more time in 1984, but never made it back over his last 11 years in the league. 

The next coach on the list was not nearly as successful, as Jim Mora stuck around with the New Orleans Saints for 11 years. He made the playoffs four times in his career, including three seasons in a row. He failed to win all of them. After his last playoff appearance, he coached four more seasons before being fired.

Two years later, he got another head coaching gig with the Indianapolis Colts. He took them to the playoffs twice in four years, but once again, he could not figure out the mystery of January football. He was fired after the 2001 season with six playoff appearances and no wins in 15 seasons, with almost all of them coming with the Saints. 

Steelers Are Very Familiar With Marvin Lewis

The Cincinnati Bengals seemingly found a diamond in the rough with a former Steelers coach, Marvin Lewis. The defensive-minded head coach took Cincinnati from the basement of the league to playoff contention. He even made the playoffs seven times, including a stretch where his team made it five times in a row.

However, they all ended in playoff futility. Lewis even had a chance to finally break that streak in 2015 against the Steelers, but Vontaze Burfict had other plans. He hit Antonio Brown in the head to set the Steelers up in field goal range. To make it worse, Adam "Pac-Man" Jones also caught a flag for bumping an official, which moved the ball even closer for an easy field goal.

The Steelers made the short kick to beat the Bengals and keep Lewis' streak alive. He somehow kept his job after that and coached for another few years before being fired after the 2018 season. Cincinnati somehow kept him around for 16 years, and he never won a postseason game.

Of the four head coaches on that list, Tomlin and Shula were the only ones to win playoff games at all. Even when Shula broke his streak, it was in a strike-shortened season. It doesn't seem like Tomlin will get that luck, as the NFL is almost halfway through their latest CBA with the NFLPA. However, the soon-to-be 19th-year head coach will get at least three more chances unless he retires.

What do you think about all the coaches that were kept around for a ninth year after failing to win in the postseason during the previous eight? Let us know in the comments.

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