PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan)- Shortly after a season ends, Steelers president Art Rooney II meets with the media to address what happened, how it all ended and looks ahead to the future.
That time came on Thursday.
The Fan Morning Show with Colin Dunlap, Chris Mack and Jim Colony spent time listening and reacting to what Rooney II had to say about Mike Tomlin's future and his evaluation of him on Friday morning.
In part, Rooney said, "We'll address Mike's contract with him as time goes on this offseason. I feel comfortable in saying he'll be our coach into the future." Rooney also mentioned the playoff game against the Cleveland Browns and said a lot of what transpired can't be blamed on Mike Tomlin, considering the bevy of turnovers the Steelers committed to ultimately lose.
Is Tomlin being held accountable enough for the lack of playoff success?
"The gameplan wasn't for the first play to be Maurkice Pouncey to snap the football over Ben Roethlisberger's head," said Dunlap. "That being said though, can any of it be attributed to coaching? I think a big talking point after that game was the decision to punt and that's absolutely on coaching."
Chris Mack added to that by saying, "I think it's a cop out answer to only respond to what happened in the Cleveland playoff game. No, it's not just because you lost a playoff game, embarrassingly so, on home turf. It's because you stumbled down the stretch the way you did. It was everything that led up to that for 6 weeks.
The offense struggling, inability all of the sudden to get off the field on 3rd down for the defense and turn the ball over. The coaching decisions, the inability to adjust midstream, other than the game against the Colts."
Rooney may have successfully worked around the real problem and maybe the real intent behind the question about the job Mike Tomlin has done.
"It's tough to be critical of Art Rooney II, it really is. But he was asked to evaluate Mike Tomlin and he went straight to a micro answer. That was a macro question. It was about the totality of the work that Mike Tomlin gave last year and not just about the 60 minutes at the end."
Jim Colony said that there is a disturbing trend here over the last few years under Tomlin.
"The thing is, the year before this there were injuries. But the year before that, they were in a really good spot and they lost 4 of their last 6 games and didn't make the playoffs. That's three years in a row, and even the year before that, the loss to Jacksonville where there was just an embarrassment at home in that game.
All of that stuff has happened at the ends of seasons and it's been the same guy in charge of it. The reaction I tend to have is, 'Man, if this stuff keeps happening with the same head coach, when is he going to be held accountable for it?'"
The guys made it clear they aren't trying to run Mike Tomlin out of town but…
"It doesn't even feel like Mike Tomlin is being pushed for a neutral position to a little bit of heat. It's like, 'Ok. We're moving along, he's doing the right things and we just need better results,'" said Dunlap.
"It's like critical thoughts about Mike Tomlin haven't even crossed Art Rooney's mind. That's the worrisome part."
All three agreed: it's not just good enough to make the playoffs. The fans want playoff wins.
Jim Colony ended with this: "We love making fun of the escalator in Cincinnati (when fans are leaving because the Bengals have lost). But in some ways, haven't the Steelers become the Marvin Lewis Cincinnati Bengals? Where they're just good enough to get there?
We used to criticize Mike Brown and Bengals ownership like, 'How can you stick with this guy?' He gets to the playoffs every once in a while but he loses.
Have the Steelers kind of sunk to that level?
You hear, 'it beats the alternative' when you look at some of the other franchises that are a mess. But it's just mediocrity. That's what it is."
Is Mike Tomlin being let off the hook a little too much?
