The Pittsburgh Steelers have had only three coaches since 1969, a hallmark of consistency for a franchise that has been consistently good since head coach Chuck Noll started in 1969. Current Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is entering his 17th season and has no plans to step down soon.
Tomlin joined Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show on Thursday and spoke about how much he enjoys coaching.
“Rich, it is so easy to be quite honest with you, I’m not going to act like it’s hard,” Tomlin said of being a head coach. “First, I absolutely love football. I love the challenges that this profession and my job present. I love working with players and helping them grow, individually and collectively.”
Since becoming a head coach in 2007, Tomlin has famously never had a losing season and has led Pittsburgh to the playoffs 10 times in his 16 seasons in charge, with one of those seasons, 2008, resulting in a Super Bowl victory.
Tomlin is one of the most successful coaches in the NFL. However, he has been under a little fire recently from the Steelers’ fan base for not winning a playoff game since the 2016 season. Despite this, Tomlin said he loves the pressure and to be questioned.
“I absolutely love what you described as pressure. I like the challenges, I like to compete, I like to be questioned, I like to be up against it.”
This season Tomlin has that pressure he loves on him. While expectations for the 2023 Steelers are not super high by the media, even after a great back half of 2022, Pittsburgh is expected to push for a playoff berth. In addition, Tomlin is tasked with developing quarterback Kenny Pickett into the Steelers’ next franchise quarterback after the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger.
In Pittsburgh if the team doesn’t win a Super Bowl, the season is often seen as a disappointment. In the new era of Steelers football, there is no coach better for this team than Tomlin.
