If you’re critical of Mike Tomlin and the coaching job he has done so far this year, some big national names would like to have a word with you.
Speaking on his show, Rich Eisen was pretty blunt with his words.
“You have a Hall of Fame coach,” said Eisen. “If you think Mike Tomlin isn’t all that or should be around anymore after all this time, you are, with all due respect, dumb.”
The team did start 2-6 and have been able to claw back to 8-8 and are still not out of the playoff picture with one week to go.
“Where he excels is getting teams to buy-in and believing and probably over-performing at times, like this group has in the second half of the season,” Jeff Hathhorn told The Fan Morning Show.
Now, the local view of Tomlin is a little more critical compared to the national view.
“Is he a perfect coach? Hell no,” said Hathhorn. “If you want to talk about playoff losses, like giving up 45 to Jacksonville at home, that’s embarrassing, but what he’s done this year, he’s done a great job.”
But has he done enough to be considered for the Coach of the Year?
Former Steelers offensive lineman Trai Essex told the Morning Show, while he believes Tomlin should get a vote or two, there are coaches like Doug Peterson in Jacksonville, Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco and Nick Sirianni who should win it.
Hathhorn says even for the job that Tomlin has been able to do, those coaches have done more with their teams.