The Pittsburgh Steelers head coach is a controversial figure in the eyes of many across the NFL and among Steelers’ faithful.
Many praise Tomlin for his consistency and the fact that he’s never had a losing season since taking the head job in 2007, finding a way to keep his teams afloat even when struck with adverse circumstances. However, others criticize Tomlin for not making use of the talent that he has had at his disposal the last decade, lacking a playoff win since 2016 as the Steelers have been good enough to be relevant, but not taken seriously as a title contender the last decade.
For all of his warts, Tomlin does manage to keep his teams relevant and squeeze out tough victories on a regular basis, having some sort of “Tomlin factor” when it comes to winning close games. Tomlin has also proven to be a steady presence to weather the storms when they come as Fox Sports insider Martin Rodgers recently wrote about in his piece on Pittsburgh, stating that the Steelers have their issues, but that Tomlin has been the man for the job to work through said issues without seeing the boat capsize.
“Yet as a new week dawns and with Sunday’s victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in the books, the Steelers and head coach Mike Tomlin appear to have performed a minor miracle act, springing free of all the aforementioned issues with a leap and a bound and, somehow, heading forwards with a vastly improved outlook,” Rodgers said.
When you look at the week the Steelers had, there were plenty of news items that could have worked to derail this team. The team lost to the Cleveland Browns in embarrassing fashion last weekend, losing 13-10 as the offense didn’t do anything on the day except for RB Jaylen Warren ripping off a long touchdown to keep Pittsburgh’s hopes alive. That performance culminated in OC Matt Canada getting fired on Tuesday. On top of that, much was made about the heated argument WR Diontae Johnson and S Minkah Fitzpatrick got into after the Browns game, resulting in OLB T.J. Watt and DL Cameron Heyward breaking up the altercation between the two.
All of this happened in the span of 48 hours along with Pittsburgh undergoing a change at offensive coordinator with both RB Coach Eddie Faulkner and QB Coach Mike Sullivan taking over the duties while managing their own. Still, somehow Tomlin kept this team focused on moving forward rather than spiraling downward with all of the frustration in the locker room after last Sunday’s loss. The effort resulted in Pittsburgh’s best offensive yardage output in three seasons and a dominant defensive effort which netted the Steelers their seventh win.
“Perhaps this is why Tomlin has stuck around so long,” Rodgers said. “Much gets spoken about his record of never having had a losing season, a point of pride that was only narrowly retained by a late campaign revival last year. Yet his true genius may be in taking scenarios and tribulations that would throw most programs off track and finding ways to glide on through. That’s what the Steelers are doing right now. Barring any mishaps over the next couple of weeks, a playoff spot might be all but assured come mid-December. From dysfunction to smooth sailing, just like that.”
It hasn’t been perfect. It sure hasn’t been pretty. But the Steelers sit with a 7-4 record and have the 2-9 Cardinals and Patriots up next on their schedule with the Gardner Minshew-led Colts and the Bengals again to follow. Should they take care of business these next four weeks, they likely will lock up a playoff spot and have a chance to push the Ravens for the AFC North crown at the end of the year.
Any Steelers fan would have signed up for that at the beginning of the season, regardless of what the process looked like to get there. Tomlin has had this team sustain the unsustainable to this point, getting his team to 6-4 despite getting outgained in every game up to this past week. They have overcome a mid-season coordinator change, multiple instances of attitudes flaring up the past several weeks, and having to overcome an offense that can’t score points to get to where they are. Tomlin has managed to keep this team competitive and in the playoff hunt through it all while we’ve seen other teams in similar situations falter while in a state of transition.
As Tomlin put it, he and QB Kenny Pickett will be measured based on their ability to win football games, and amidst the adversity Pittsburgh has faced this season, Tomlin has his Steelers doing just that.
