The perception of Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has soured like old milk in recent weeks as the Steelers have seen a once-promising season go down the tubes, dropping three straight games to put them at 7-7 on the year. The team has unraveled during what was supposed to be a promising stretch with Pittsburgh sitting at 7-4 with the playoffs in sight before losing to the 2-10 Arizona Cardinals and the 2-10 New England Patriots in back-to-back weeks while just dropping another game to the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday.
Pittsburgh has shown a lack of fight in its past three games as well as a lack of discipline with numerous procedure penalties. That has plenty of fans as well as members in the media questioning if it’s time that Tomlin and the Steelers part ways as yet another season falls short of the standard that has been set in Pittsburgh. Former NFL insider and current sportswriter Jason La Canfora hopped on the 93.7 The Fan Morning Show on Monday and was asked how much longer Pittsburgh will allow this losing to go under Tomlin before they decide to let their long-tenured head coach walk.
“Well, that would mean that you’re saying that Mike Tomlin is one of the primary reasons why that hasn’t happened,” La Canfora said on The Fan Morning Show. “I don’t know if I would necessarily agree with that. They just made a GM transition. They just made a quarterback transition. Not every coach just has winning seasons. I know you guys are in Pittsburgh. I know you are in this cocoon where you’ve had three-straight guys basically do nothing but that. That’s not the real world. Like, that’s not the modern NFL. Guys have losing seasons. It doesn’t trigger their automatic termination.”
La Canfora defended Tomlin’s track record and the steadiness the Steelers’ franchise has had during his tenure, stating that the man hasn’t ever logged a losing season since being hired back in 2007. He defended Tomlin a week ago on The Fan Morning Show as well. La Canfora stated that the grass isn’t always greener when moving on from a coach who may not be delivering playoff success on a yearly basis but manages to keep the team relevant rather than some franchises that are continually turning over their coaching staff as they endure losing season after losing season.
“I don’t think it’s something that they are considering,” La Canfora said regarding Tomlin getting fired. “I don’t think that they think it is something that would make the team better. I don’t think it’s something where they’re saying that Mike Tomlin is holding this franchise back.”
Owner Art Rooney II has shown that he is a measured man, just like his father and grandfather before him. The Rooneys aren’t ones to make brash changes for the sake of changes, just like Tomlin has been with his football team. However, something needs to change. The Steelers have shown deterioration from the storied franchise they used to be, and Tomlin is a part of the reason for that. The team hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016 and has failed to capitalize on talented teams and good playoff position dating back the last several years of his tenure. He stuck with OC Matt Canada far too long, coupled with handling the transition from Ben Roethlisberger to Kenny Pickett as this offense has achieved new levels of low, averaging just 15.9 points per game this season.
The Steelers haven’t been legit contenders in the AFC for nearly a decade, and while they have done enough to post a winning record and sneak into the playoffs on occasion, they’ve gotten pummeled when they’ve made it in. There’s a culture issue in the Steel City, and it begins with the head coach and the message he is consistently delivering to his team and the standard that he is holding his players to. The team has failed to live up to that standard in recent seasons, meaning Tomlin needs to check himself in the mirror and be open to doing things differently than he always has to elicit positive change.
La Canfora may be right that Rooney isn’t considering parting ways with Tomlin at this juncture. But if the losing continues, you can believe a conversation will be had regarding Tomlin’s approach and the people he surrounds himself with to be successful in 2024, the last year of his current deal.
