The Pittsburgh Steelers signed head coach Mike Tomlin to a three-year contract extension. For many fans, and even opinionated journalists, that is tantamount to owner Art Rooney II signing off on mediocrity. That is not at all the case, although the reality is not necessarily better. The truth is that Rooney is an optimist, at least when it comes to the people he believes in. And it’s clear that he believes Mike Tomlin will win playoff games for the Steelers in the very near future.
For better or worse, that is what seems to be the case here. Tomlin will have coached 21 seasons if he sees out this contract, and he is already on 15 without a Super Bowl. He won it in 2008, during his second season, but he has since coached for 15 years without winning another.
In fact, Tomlin has gone seven years without even winning a playoff game. As I have previously written, he is only the sixth head coach to have the opportunity to go into an eighth season despite such a drought. Paul Brown and Don Shula both went eight years without a playoff win. Jim Mora went 11 years, and Marvin Lewis went a stunning 16—his entire tenure in Cincinnati.
Only Bart Starr won a playoff game following a seven-year drought. Brown and Mora never won a playoff game again. Shula did, however. After eight years of no playoff wins, he reached the Super Bowl twice in three years. He coached for 14 years following his drought, and from then on only went more than one year without a playoff win once in that period, a four-season span. Of his 19 postseason victories, nine came after his eight-year playoff win drought.
That doesn’t mean Mike Tomlin is going to have similar success with the Steelers. But you can bet that Rooney thinks it’s very possible. Not only that, he expects the Steelers to win with Tomlin, which is the reason that he’s here. As comforting as it might be to believe, it’s not because he just doesn’t care and wants to make the easy decision. He actually thinks he is making the best football decision for his franchise.
“Mike Tomlin’s leadership and commitment to the Steelers have been pivotal to our success during his first 17 years as head coach”, Rooney said, via the team’s website. “Extending his contract for three more years reflects our confidence in his ability to guide the team back to winning playoff games and championships, while continuing our tradition of success”.
I added the emphasis to the above quote to illustrate the point. Whether right or wrong, the Steelers extending Tomlin for another three seasons was a football move, not a business move. Indeed, he reportedly got yet another handsome raise along with it, so they’re not saving any money. Tomlin is the guy, they believe, who will add the seventh Lombardi to the trophy case. The first Art Rooney II will get to stand on the podium for as principal owner.
