Even when the Pittsburgh Steelers are eliminated from the playoffs, they can get talked about on the Sunday shows. In fact, the conversation on today’s NFL Countdown involved two eliminated teams, the Steelers and Dallas Cowboys. Despite a terrible playoff loss, Cowboys’ head coach Mike McCarthy will keep his job for 2024, leaving many fans wondering if it’s the right move. McCarthy’s won in the regular season but his playoff success is fleeting.
A former head coach himself, analyst Rex Ryan told the ESPN panel how tough it is to win. And side-by-side, McCarthy’s regular season resume is very similar to Tomlin, who had the “firing” heat cool off him following a three-game winning streak to end the regular season.
“When you look at just the numbers, he’s at 167 wins, 102 losses in the regular season,” Ryan said. “11-11 in the playoffs…let’s compare him to Mike Tomlin. Mike Tomlin is a first ballot Hall of Fame coach. Mike Tomlin, 173 wins, 102 losses. 8-10 in the playoffs. One Super Bowl. They’re very similar. One guy we want to throw away, one guy is a first ballot Hall of Famer. Which he should be. He has lost five straight games in the playoffs. To me, it ain’t so easy to win in the playoffs.”
One small correction to send Ryan’s way. Tomlin has lost only 100 career games, not the 102 he cited. Unless Ryan knows something about the first two weeks of next season we don’t.
Small errors aside, Ryan’s intent wasn’t to diminish Tomlin’s accomplishments. Rather, he pointed out the differences in how both coaches are perceived, especially nationally. Tomlin is revered and respected while McCarthy is often the scapegoat with many believing, or arguing, Jerry Jones would fire him following Dallas’ 48-32 Wild Card loss to the Green Bay Packers, a game that wasn’t even as close as the outcome suggests. Ryan went on to call McCarthy a “hell of a coach.”
Both coaches have had strong regular seasons. McCarthy’s only had three losing seasons in 17 years as an NFL head coach. Tomlin hasn’t done it once, as has he become known for. McCarthy even has a better playoff record than Tomlin. Both have a Super Bowl ring with McCarthy beating Tomlin’s Steelers in 2010, though Tomlin has been to two of them compared to McCarthy’s one.
Overall, both have incredibly similar career arcs. But Tomlin is thought of much more highly than McCarthy. Perhaps that’s because McCarthy’s had lower moments, fired midseason with Green Bay, and because of the spotlight McCarthy sits under in Dallas. If Tomlin had the string of playoff losses he had in Dallas as he’s had in Pittsburgh, he’d be perceived differently. Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the scrutiny.
As for Ryan’s other side comment, is Tomlin a first ballot Hall of Famer? Even his Canton path isn’t a foregone conclusion given how difficult it is for coaches to make it into the Hall of Fame, only 28 to ever make it. But odds are in favor of Tomlin being enshrined one day. Will it happen when he’s first eligible? Potentially but it’s probably not the slam dunk Ryan makes it out to be, especially if Tomlin’s postseason quick exits continue.
If he reaches another Super Bowl, and certainly if he wins one, he’ll cross into first ballot status. Of course, if McCarthy can manage to win a second ring, he’ll go from nearly being fired to joining Tomlin in that conversation. Of the 12 non-active head coaches with multiple Super Bowl rings, only three (George Siefert, Mike Shanahan, and Tom Coughlin) aren’t in Canton.
