Despite injuries and poor quarterback play throughout the season, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin still dragged his team to the playoffs, even if he did not end the season how he wanted to. A team that finished with a negative point differential (-20) still making the playoffs is impressive and shows Tomlin can elevate a below-average team. That is something former Steelers QB Tanner Morgan saw in his limited time with the club this past summer.
Morgan signed with Pittsburgh as a UDFA and stayed with the team throughout preseason before being cut. Despite only being a Steeler for a few months, Tomlin made a strong impression on him. Morgan joined The SKOL Football Talk Show recently and discussed what it was like to be coached by Tomlin.
“Just learning from Tomlin and being around him, a strong leader, a guy who works really hard,” Morgan said. “There’s a lot of Tomlinisms that I still think about a lot. He’s a fantastic football coach and gets the best out of his team.”
While Tomlin certainly has his flaws, everyone who has played for him has sung his praises. Just this past week, players in the Steelers locker room came out and said they wouldn’t want to play for any other coach. Tomlin does not lose the locker room and always kept his team steady. It is one reason why his teams are always consistently competitive and fighting for a playoff berth.
The 2023 Steelers had many struggles. In the first game of the season, they lost DT Cameron Heyward to a groin injury for half the year that he was still fighting when he came back. They also lost WR Diotnae Johnson to a hamstring for a few weeks. Then, the Steelers lost two ILBs, Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander, to season-ending injuries in the middle of the season before basically losing their entire safety room to either injury or suspension the last few weeks of the season.
Despite this, Tomlin made do with scraps, winning the last three games of the season to sneak into the playoffs with third-string QB Mason Rudolph. By that point in the year, the Steelers were supposed to lose out, but they didn’t. Tomlin rallied the team, and Pittsburgh made the playoffs.
Still, there are some faults with Tomlin. Constantly laying eggs in the playoffs and the inability to hire a good offensive coordinator have plagued him and are two things that need to be fixed. It will also be important for him to find a quarterback. After two years, QB Kenny Pickett has yet to show growth and potential to be a franchise guy. In the modern NFL, it is basically impossible to win a Super Bowl without a top guy under center. It will be hard, but for Tomlin and the Steelers to get back to winning championships, they need a quarterback.
As Morgan said, Tomlin elevates his teams. But now he needs to elevate his staff so that his offense can improve and the team can finally win a playoff game.
