As the offseason dead period continues on, we are starting to see more and more lists and rankings emerge on the major media sites. On Wednesday, NFL Media analyst Elliot Harrison released his NFL head coach power rankings and he has Mike Tomlin listed 6th overall.
Harrison writes:
Some might feel Tomlin should not rate this high. But who else are you going to put above him? He’s never suffered a losing campaign, and he’s been to two Super Bowls in his eight seasons on the job, winning one in his second year. Many thought the Steelers would be headed back to the big game — or at least making a deep run into the playoffs — before Le’Veon Bell went down in Week 17. All in all, it’s been a nice run for the third man to fill this role since 1969.
Ranked ahead of Tomlin are Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, John Harbaugh, Mike McCarthy and Sean Payton.
I would argue that Tomlin should be ranked ahead of Payton, but overall, I really don’t have a problem with him being listed 6th.
One of the biggest warts that Tomlin currently wears revolves around the fact that his teams over the years have had problems beating opponents with losing records. We saw this again last season when the Steelers suffered losses to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Jets and Cleveland Browns.
On paper, the Steelers have the toughest schedule in the league in 2015. Even so, the team is expected to make a run at a seventh Lombardi Trophy under Tomlin’s guidance.
Is Tomlin’s ranking fair in your eyes? Should any other coach be ranked ahead of him?
