Let’s get some things out of the way right off the bat. Mike Tomlin is a really good football coach. You don’t balance player personalities and game success the way he has without knowing what you’re doing. The fact of the matter however is that the Pittsburgh Steelers have not threatened the Super Bowl since 2016 when they were beaten by the New England Patriots in the AFC Title Game. That brings us back around to the annual issue at hand; what does the future hold for Mike Tomlin if this trend of no postseason or postseason losses continues?
Since That Loss in New England
In the six seasons since reaching the AFC Championship, Tomlin’s Steelers have made the postseason three times. In all three cases, they were “one and done.” Two of those three losses were at home (JAX ’17 and CLE ’20) and the third was an expected blowout in Kansas City and that’s exactly what it was.
Tomlin does not throw or carry the ball. He does not block, kick or tackle either. Fair or not, his team’s failures to do those things well in the postseason still fall on his shoulders. The same question is asked over and over following these playoff debacles. “Did Tomlin have the team prepared?” Here’s where the Pro-Tomlin and Anti-Tomlin forces often come to blows. One side argues it isn’t the head coach’s job at the NFL level to ‘prepare’ players while the other side believes that it 100% is.
What I can tell you from talking to current and former NFL players is that at the professional level, coaches put the gameplans together and it’s your job to be “prepared” to play. Take that for what you will.
The Excuses
Let’s go back to the year before the loss in the AFC Title game. The Steelers had won a crazy game in Cincinnati that saw Antonio Brown knocked senseless. He was unavailable in Denver the following week and the running game consisted of Fitz Toussaint and Jordan Todman.
A year later in New England, Le’Veon Bell was knocked out of the game early yet most believe it wouldn’t have made a difference. There was the Tim Tebow game in Denver in 2011 where Ryan Clark couldn’t play and there was another postseason failure where the Steelers were forced to use Ben Tate at running back after he’d been signed THAT week.
You’ve heard the phrase, “Excuses are like assholes, everyone has one.” To his credit, I’ve never heard Mike Tomlin use an excuse for the postseason futility in the last decade, nor should I. Every coach in the National Football League has to deal with adversity in the postseason. Tomlin is no different and those losses cannot be used as reasons for the losses.
Back to the Question at Hand
Are you surprised that it took me this long to mention that Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season during his 16 years as head coach? Personally, I hate that fact as much as Tomlin does. What does it really mean after all? Sure, it’s nice. It shows that you have fielded competitive teams but when you’ve only earned one Super Bowl title then I really don’t care. I’d rather have a few sub .500 seasons if it also meant a couple of more Lombardi Trophies.
With season number 17 on the doorstep, you know and I know that Tomlin isn’t exactly on the hot seat. If he is, we’ll never know it. Whether he goes 16-1 or 1-16 he’s coming back for 2024 unless he chooses not to and even if he isn’t back it won’t be because he’s fired. It will be a “retirement” or he’ll be “stepping down for numerous reasons.” That’s just how The Rooney’s do things these days.
I’m a firm believer that a coach can be in one place too long. Despite this being a young roster with tremendous turnover, complacency can still set in. Complacency is a bad word whether we’re talking football at the high school, college or professional levels. There should always be a sense of urgency and I’m not sure that still exists in Pittsburgh right now. I think Tomlin says all of the right things but ask the people in the organization. Ask the training staff, scouting department and secretarial staff. They know as well as anyone if the same motivation exists. I certainly hope it does but some days I wonder.
When we say that Tomlin hasn’t been to the playoffs in three of the last five years, has fallen to 8-9 overall in the postseason and has won as many playoff games in the last 12 years as he did in his first two seasons (3), what are we really saying? I know I’m saying that’s not acceptable and don’t give me this crap about “other teams would die for his success.” Other teams aren’t the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It’s not easy to get to get the Super Bowl and it’s not easy to win playoff games either – there are hundreds of former and current coaches aware of this – but how long can the current trend continue? The future of Mike Tomlin is rarely in doubt but another season like we’ve seen in recent years suggests that it should be.
