Every year the Pittsburgh Steelers enter the season with the same goal and expectation of winning the Super Bowl. Since the 2016 season, they haven’t even won a playoff game. For that reason, there is an elevated level of pressure on Mike Tomlin and the rest of the coaching staff to break the unfortunate five-game losing streak. They have oriented their entire offseason—which has been full of uncharacteristic changes on the coaching staff and roster—around being competitive in the playoffs. Team president Art Rooney II even expressed a level of impatience with the continued playoff futility.
Tomlin has made the most of some poor situations over the last few seasons, including a 10-7 finish in the 2023 regular season and a playoff berth in a season where the Steelers started three different quarterbacks, six different safeties, and seven different inside linebackers. That is a lot of adversity to overcome, and there are a lot of teams that would not survive those circumstances, let alone end up in the playoffs.
Say what you will about Tomlin, there are plenty of fair points of criticism that can be made, but he is one of the top head coaches in the NFL. Mina Kimes and Kevin Clark posted a YouTube video this morning ranking their top 10, and Tomlin came in at No. 4 from Kimes and 5 from Clark. These placements are both down from last year as each had Tomlin at No. 3 last offseason.
“Mike Tomlin, 10-7 last year, made the playoffs with a combination of Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, Mason Rudolph at quarterback,” Kimes said. “He is simply inevitable. Last year I think I demoted him, or I talked a little bit about how I thought he deserved criticism for holding onto Matt Canada too for so long…But you bring in Arthur Smith, this offensive coordinator, I think that was a really good hire.
“I just feel like in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era, it has not been easy in Pittsburgh, but he has done the absolute most with what he has.”
There is a long list of players who have credited Tomlin for keeping the team focused and together through the three-game losing streak last December. That is a difficult task to do, especially when the media narratives were spiraling out of control at the time.
“The fact that he was able to eke out 10 wins, he’s football’s miracle worker,” Clark said.
Now many of the potential excuses are stripped away. The quarterback play should be much improved, Matt Canada was replaced, the defense enters the year with a mostly clean bill of health, and the team invested heavily in the offensive line.
Even with many of the key problems seemingly solved, the Steelers are facing one of the toughest schedules in the league this season. To reach their goals, the Steelers will be tested in a big way. If they can overcome the schedule and achieve their goals of winning games in the playoffs and competing for a Super Bowl, then all you can do is tip your cap to Tomlin as a future Hall of Fame head coach.
