Though we’ve made the leap into 2017, we’re going to revisit the biggest Steelers’ story to end 2016. The now infamous Terry Bradshaw/Mike Tomlin saga that dominated headlines. Most of us are done talking about it but one Steeler wanted to add his thoughts to the pile.
Mike Mitchell spoke to the media after today’s regular season finale win to vehemently disagree with what Bradshaw said.
The Beaver County Times’ Chris Mueller has the quote.
If you can’t see the tweet or if your New Year’s resolution is to stay off the Twitter machine:
“Going back to something that was last week’s news with people talking about our coach being a cheerleader. It’s absurd. He’s the best football coach in the game in how he puts us in situations and prepares us. A lot of stuff isn’t even on the field. It’s about off the field. What type of man are you. What you value. Those types of things. He’s the best coach I’ve ever had; and that’s all I’m going to say about that moving forward.”
Pretty strong words. And Mitchell has bounced around the league enough to get a taste for how other organizations and teams work. Drafted by Oakland (playing for multiple coaches), spent a year in Carolina, and the rest of his time in Pittsburgh. So he has a pretty good gauge.
As Mitchell hints at, it can be tough to tell exactly the impact a coach has since their work happens off the field with the hopes of translating on it. That can make any attempt at an evaluation murky.
It’s abundantly clear players have rallied around Tomlin and heartily defended Bradshaw’s comments. And from the way they’ve played, staying together and making comebacks in three straight weeks, it’s obvious Tomlin has complete control of the team.
