Fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers should know well enough by now that a Mike Tomlin press conference is not exactly chock full of information and tantalizing tidbits. Unless of course he is defending his actions along the sidelines but I digress.
Mike Tomlin held his final press conference of the season today and as usual it was filled with numerous Tomlinism’s about the team’s performance in 2013 and he also said exactly what we’ve been saying since last night. Blaming the refs or the Kansas City Chiefs for the Steelers’ lack of a playoff spot is neither accurate nor fair.
When asked about the outcome out west Tomlin quipped, “I’m not going to lose sleep over something that happened in a stadium we weren’t even in.”
He’s exactly right about that but what he should be losing sleep over is losing to lesser opponents. The trend has continued at an alarming rate during his tenure and it must be addressed along with his clock management issues.
As for the always interesting question of whether Dick LeBeau would return, Tomlin said he has yet to sit down with his bosses to discuss anything related to that as of yet. He would not confirm that Keith Butler would be the next in line should LeBeau retire as many have thought for the last several years.
In typical fashion, LeBeau usually heads off to warmer climates to play golf. When he returns, it’s expected he’ll let the team know if he is returning or not. As of this time, I would expect LeBeau to return and I would also expect Todd Haley to return as well. Art Rooney II will not want to admit the hiring of Haley was a failure after two years and will state that the offense was improving as the year went on.
While today was more than likely the last time we’ll hear from Tomlin for the next few months, it is expected that Art Rooney II will address the state of the Steelers at some point soon.
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @steeldad and follow the website at @SCBlitz. He can be heard Mondays on Trib-Live Radio at 730pm ET talking Steelers and is a blogger for ESPN 970 in Pittsburgh.
