Under head coach Mike Tomlin the Pittsburgh Steelers have been one of the most consistently good teams in the NFL. However, since 2020 the general consensus is the team has struggled and is rebuilding, but if you look at just the records it says otherwise. According to NFL analytics expert Warren Sharp, the Steelers have the third most wins in the AFC since 2020 with 30.
While that number is inflated by Pittsburgh’s 11-0 start and 12-4 record in 2020, it is still impressive that Tomlin and the Steelers have such a high win total in the three years considering the way the team has been talked about.
For what it’s worth the Steelers have had a better record than they should have all those years thanks in part to great defense or late-game heroics by quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Kenny Pickett. However, Pittsburgh’s teams have had serious problems that prevented them from being serious Super Bowl contenders like either a horrific offensive line, or a quarterback who was too old or too inexperienced.
Yet, Tomlin was able to get the most out of teams with mediocre rosters and now with a roster that feels very different from 2020 it is a new era of Steelers football. If Tomlin was able to overperform in the “rebuilding era” in this new era, maybe we can see a new Super Bowl run soon.
While it felt like the 2010s Steelers underperformed, the defenses in the mid-to-late 2010s were very bad and, looking back, were not the quality of a Super Bowl-winning defense. While the Steelers offense now isn’t as good as it was then, Pittsburgh has historically won Super Bowls when its defense is better than its offense.
We can debate whether Tomlin has underperformed in the playoffs all day, but one thing is certain is that he gets the most out of his team in the regular season. It has been awhile since Pittsburgh has had a team that can make noise in the playoffs. But with the way general manager Omar Khan and Tomlin are constructing the team now, it is only a matter of time before the Steelers become a playoff force.
And if there is one thing Mike Tomlin does, it is have his team win football games.
