The last three weeks of the NFL season have been a disaster for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Heading into the Dec. 3 Arizona Cardinals game, the Steelers were 7-4 and looked to be a near-lock for the playoffs. Fast forward three weeks, and they have fallen to 7-7 and need a minor miracle to make the playoffs. Some people might even say it would take a major miracle based on how the team has performed the last three games.
Head coach Mike Tomlin has come under fire from all sides, and it’s understandable when you factor in that two of those losses were to teams that were 2-10 ahead of kickoff. However, not everyone has decided that Tomlin has to go. On Monday’s episode of the Jim Rome Show, former NFL LB Shawne Merriman offered up his thoughts on the Steelers potentially moving on from Tomlin.
“If they decided to move on from Mike Tomlin right now, it’d be the biggest mistake they’ve made in Steelers history,” Merriman said. “You’ve got somebody, a coach who hasn’t had a losing record since he’s been there. Sometimes, when you have a coach there for that long and he’s had that much success and that much winning, people are quick to move on because they think there’s something else better out there…Well, guess what? Who do you move on to? Are you going to find another coach that’s going to be there as long as he has and win as many games as he has? And by the way, you make that decision, there’s no backtracking.”
It’s understandable that fans are incredibly frustrated by the way the Steelers have performed this season. Expectations were high after how general manager Omar Khan attempted to address issues through free agency and the draft. Then there was the offensive performance under second-year QB Kenny Pickett in the preseason with the first-team offense scoring touchdowns on all five of its possessions.
Then that all fell apart at different points throughout the season. There were early-season blowout losses to the San Francisco 49ers and the Houston Texans. There was the constant underperformance of the offense that led to the midseason firing of Matt Canada.
However, as Merriman points out, Tomlin has been a successful head coach in the NFL. Head coaches don’t last as long as he has without winning the vast majority of the time. In fact, among active head coaches, Tomlin has the third-most wins with 170, behind only Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots and Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s also just ahead of the Seattle Seahawks’ Pete Carroll, who has actually coached one more season than Tomlin. Oh, and Tomlin is 16th all-time for wins by an NFL head coach.
If you’re more concerned about win percentage, Tomlin’s still up there as well. Among active coaches, Tomlin owns the fifth-best career winning percentage, just .002 behind fellow William & Mary alum Sean McDermott of the Buffalo Bills. He’s also ahead of current Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton. In terms of all-time ranking, Tomlin has the 23rd best winning percentage.
Does that mean Tomlin is perfect? No. However, there’s a reason why so many people in NFL circles love Mike Tomlin. The real questions are what’s the root cause of the Steelers’ problems in 2023 and is Tomlin the guy to fix it?
Even stalwart Tomlin supporter Rich Eisen is questioning what’s going on with the Steelers and why it appears the players aren’t responding to Tomlin. There does seem to be a rift between the coaching staff and the players. So is it the players that need to be changed or the coach? At least for Merriman, getting rid of Tomlin would be a gigantic mistake.
