There’s been a lot of speculation over the future of Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, but after the Steelers’ blowout win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday, it appears that Tomlin is safe in Pittsburgh. Even before the game, Mike Florio reported on NBC’s pregame show that the Steelers wanted to extend Tomlin’s contract, and the must-win blowout victory likely helped secure Tomlin’s future in Pittsburgh.
Former Steelers safety and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark, who had some pointed remarks about Tomlin needing to change his coaching style to adapt to a younger generation, said on ESPN’s Get Up this morning that he talked to someone with the Steelers who said that while his comments weren’t wrong, they can’t see Tomlin coaching elsewhere.
“I will say this. I talked to someone in the building and the one thing they said, they said a lot of what I said was right, but they said the one thing is they could never see Mike Tomlin coaching in another jersey,” Clark said. “And that’s what that man means in that building.”
The idea of the Steelers making a head coaching change is something that doesn’t really register, as it hasn’t happened since they let go of Bill Austin following the 1968 season. Both Chuck Noll, who replaced Austin, and Bill Cowher retired, and while the Steelers likely wouldn’t fire Tomlin and would instead look to trade him, it would still be a shock to see them move on. Jay Glazer went as far as to say some teams were upset to see the Steelers win, which lessened their odds of trading for Tomlin.
At this point, it doesn’t seem likely after Pittsburgh snapped a three-game losing streak in a big way. Former NFL center and head coach Jeff Saturday added to Clark’s comments on Get Up with praise for Tomlin.
“He knows how to bring a group of men together, lock them in, and go, ‘Hey, everybody’s counting you out.’ Whether it’s [George] Pickens, he’s getting him, whether it’s [Mason] Rudolph, you name it. Whatever player it is, these are the 53 we’re going in men, let’s make it happen,” Saturday said.
Leading up to the Bengals game, there was a lot of drama surrounding Pickens and questions of whether he should be suspended for comments he made about his effort against the Indianapolis Colts. Tomlin decided to play Pickens, and he rewarded his coach with a four-catch, 195-yard performance with two touchdowns. Tomlin was able to motivate and get the team ready to go while blocking out the outside noise to lead the Steelers to their most complete game of the season.
While he deserves a lot of criticism for how bad the Steelers looked during their three-game losing streak, he also deserves praise for getting them back on track and having Pittsburgh ready for what ended up being its best game of the season during its most tumultuous time. While the recent results haven’t always been there, it’s just not Pittsburgh’s modus operandi to make a coaching change without exercising some patience. It would be a surprise if Tomlin was coaching another team next year.
