Is Mike Tomlin an all-time great coach? Is he one of the most-overrated in NFL history? Is he both?!
Monday night’s Wild Card loss to Houston was yet another blow to Steelers fans who started to hope this current team could do something that hasn’t been done in nearly a decade, win a playoff game.
And with another playoff loss, that drought will reach a decade next year.
So, what needs to change?
Over that decade, the Steelers have had different coordinators, schemes, plays and players.
In fact, the roster was overhauled this year over last year and both years have resulted in the same result… a first-round playoff exit.
The only thing that’s constant is the head coach, Mike Tomlin.
Tomlin’s players believe in him, Aaron Rodgers said after the game he doesn’t understand why anyone would want a change in Pittsburgh.
He said the organization Tomlin is “the right guy and the culture is right.”
Rodgers adds that Tomlin has had more success than nearly everybody in the league over the past two decades.
And, that’s true… in the regular season.
No losing seasons and nearly every year, the Steelers are fighting for a division championship.
The facts are undeniable, Tomlin has 193 wins in the NFL, tied with Chuck Noll for 9th all-time.
If you’re in the top 10 of anything, you’re an all-time great.
But there are other facts.
He’s now 8-12 in the playoffs, with seven-straight losses, tying him with former Bengals coach Marvin Lewis.
And, after letting the 4th quarter get away from them, the Steelers have now lost five-straight playoff games by double digits, an NFL record.
Tomlin as head coach is a conundrum, a tale of two coaches. He’s an all-time winner, but hasn’t won when it counts in a decade.
It seems silly to suggest that a coach with that kind of resume, coming off a division championship would be on the hot seat, but it’s been the same old, same old for 10 years, something that is unfathomable to anyone that’s been a Steelers fan since 1970.
The solution?
The Steelers won’t make a change and Tomlin will leave only if he decides he wants to move on to another team or TV.
He’d likely be great at both. He IS and all-time coach also mired in the worst stretch of Steelers football in half-a-century.
The message has not just gotten stale, it’s starting to smell.
Sometimes the best thing is to make a change… just look at Andy Reid.