The Pittsburgh Steelers fell back down to .500 with a blowout loss in Houston on Sunday. The Texans led 16-0 at halftime en route to a 30-6 victory over the Steelers. Not only did Pittsburgh not score a touchdown, but the Steelers also lost starting quarterback Kenny Pickett to a knee injury.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has never had a losing record during his 16 seasons in Pittsburgh, but that streak appears to be in jeopardy once again this year.
93.7 The Fan’s Andrew Fillipponi sounded off on Tomlin after the loss on the Audacy original podcast “1st & Pod” this week.
“Why won’t people listen when I say repeatedly that Tomlin is an overrated coach,” Fillipponi said (28:15 in player above). “He hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016. They just lost by 24 to the Texans with a rookie head coach and a quarterback starting his fourth game. They’re not going to win a playoff game this year; that’ll be seven in a row.”
The Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since reaching the AFC Championship Game in 2016. Much of Tomlin’s success came early in his Steelers tenure with a star-studded roster.
Now, the roster that he has hand-picked isn’t meeting those expectations.
“He wanted this quarterback. He wanted a running back in the first round two years ago. He employs the worst offensive coordinator,” Fillipponi continued. “He has not hired an innovative, young, enterprising, forward-thinking offensive coordinator since he’s been the head coach here in 2007. And the national media, finally, is starting to catch on to it.”
Fillipponi likened Tomlin’s tenure to that of Bill Belichick in New England. While Belichick seems to have lost a step without Tom Brady, he’s still one of the best coaches of all time and has the rings to prove it.
“Belichick and Tomlin are very, very similar. It’s interesting to me that Belichick gets murdered, as he should, but that guy’s got six Super Bowls; this guy’s got one. But because they limped their way to 8-8 or 9-8, he gets credit at the end of the day,” he said. “He builds the roster here. He picks the team. I thought (Sunday) was a failure of his regime at this point. You go to a place like Houston and you’re completely non-competitive (Sunday) afternoon.”
Tomlin was one of the best defensive head coaches early on in his time in Pittsburgh. However, that may not work with how the game has evolved.
“There are very few defensive head coaches that are winning in today’s NFL,” Fillipponi continued. “I think the game’s passed him by, honestly. He’s been here for a long time. He’s not the young, cool, hip, young coach anymore.”