With the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 17-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens, they improved their record to 10-7 and ended the regular season on a high note. With some outside help, they will qualify for the playoffs, which will be known within the next 24 hours. Either way, it was a tremendous reversal of fortunes from a three-game losing streak to a three-game winning streak to end the final six games of the season.
During the losing streak the local and national media piled on to the Steelers with a barrage of narratives ranging from Mike Tomlin losing the locker room to individual players needing benched for various wrongdoings. Some of the criticism was valid, but much of it was amplified by the losing streak. Multiple current players voiced their support for Tomlin, dismissing any narrative of Tomlin losing the locker room. T.J. Watt, for example, recently said “Mike Tomlin” when asked how the Steelers turned their season around.
During the postgame press conferences, Najee Harris also voiced his support of Tomlin when asked about the Steelers finishing with a 10-7 record.
“To hit 10 wins, it’s good for the team. Not only that, but for Mike T. Just a good coach and how he’s been carrying us along this whole year, I think that it really shows,” Harris said via a video of his press conference posted on the Steelers’ YouTube page.
As much as people bemoan the 17-consecutive non-losing seasons for Tomlin because of the lack of recent playoff success, he consistently keeps the team competitive throughout the course of each season. There are blemishes on his record, but the same can be said for any coach. Around the league there are other teams that hit a slump and never recover, but the Steelers’ play over the last three weeks serve as proof that Tomlin doesn’t let anybody throw in the towel. When he tells his players to shut out the noise, he means it and his players listen.
“Just showing how resilient and how calm he always be, even when stuff looks bad and it’s a lot of negative stuff being said,” Harris said. “He always just stays the same person, so I’m so happy for Mike T and the team.”
With a little outside help, the Steelers will have a chance to rewrite the story of their 2023 season with a playoff berth. With the way the defense and running game are playing, they could very well shock the NFL world with a win in the tournament. Then the same voices who criticized Tomlin just a month ago could be singing his praises. That is the benefit of having a 17-season veteran at head coach—never too high, never too low.
