The Pittsburgh Steelers went on a three-game losing streak in December and dealt with some very public maturity issues with players that manifested themselves on the field. These issues combined with the losing streak put head coach Mike Tomlin firmly in the crosshairs of the media. Former players and national media figures were questioning if the Steeler Way was fading from the organization and the news cycle was spinning out of control.
People also started speculating if it is time to trade or otherwise move on from Tomlin, pinning the maturity issues firmly on his shoulders as the leader of the team. The Steelers won their Week 16 game to put an end to the streak. The manner in which they won provided some much-needed relief from the national media storylines. While the win doesn’t fully absolve Tomlin and the rest of the team from the loss streak, it does showcase some of the best qualities of his head coaching style.
Ben Roethlisberger talked about Tomlin’s leadership on his Footbahlin’ YouTube podcast Monday evening.
“I think the biggest thing, in all my years with Coach Tomlin, he just never wavered,” Roethlisberger said. “He never changed, steady. Just in the midst of the storm, he stayed the course.”
Tomlin never gets too high or too low. His press conferences may seem contrived at times with an arsenal of Tomlinisms, but according to Roethlisberger, that’s just who he is.
“Sometimes it would almost maybe drive you nuts as a veteran guy,” Roethlisberger said. “Like, come on coach, give us something else. But I think that’s who he is, and he doesn’t put on a front. He doesn’t try and act to be this way or act to be that way. It’s his leadership.”
It is the reason why the Steelers haven’t played a meaningless game of football since 2012, the reason why it’s the only meaningless game of Tomlin’s tenure. The team is always in the playoff hunt right up until the final week of the season, as they are positioned to be once again in 2023.
At the end of the day, the head coach’s primary job is to lead nearly a hundred men. The 53-man roster, the rest of the coaching staff, and the practice squad. Any deficiencies in the X’s and O’s of football can be overcome by the right coordinator hirings. Not having the right coordinators is a valid critique of Tomlin and one that should be the priority to correct in the upcoming offseason. But regarding the leadership side of things, Tomlin does just about as well as anybody else in the league. He is consistently named as a head coach that players most want to play for and ex-players of his have rarely, if ever, questioned his abilities as a leader.
