Mike Tomlin may frustrate Pittsburgh Steelers fans at times — such as when he struggles to win challenges or when his team puts up a dud against an inferior opponent — but his list of accomplishments speaks for itself. Everyone is sick of hearing about Tomlin never having a losing record, but it’s still an incredible feat.
Consider that he kept this team competitive when the starting quarterback spot was occupied by players like Duck Hodges, Mitch Trubisky, and Mason Rudolph. Almost every other team in the NFL would have won half the games Tomlin did with those guys. He may not be perfect, but he’s still one of the best, with one former Cleveland Browns general manager ranking him as the second-best head coach in the league.
Michael Lombardi worked in the NFL from 1984 to 2016, most notably as the Browns’ general manager in 2013. That doesn’t truly quantify the amount of NFL knowledge Lombardi has though. He spent time around some of the league’s best coaches of all time, including Bill Walsh and Bill Belichick. Lombardi knows what a great coach looks like, and on a recent episode of his show The Lombardi Line, he had nothing but praise for Mike Tomlin, ranking him as the best head coach in the NFL not named Andy Reid.
“I think some of his nine-win teams are some of his best coaching jobs,” Lombardi said. “They’ve not experienced what a lot of teams have, which is that lull. They’re going through it after Ben Roethlisberger, but they still find ways to win nine and 10 games. I know Steelers fans want more playoff wins, they want more Super Bowls, Mike’s only delivered one, but I think Mike’s at the top of his game in terms of being able to keep the team as competitive as they can, in spite of the inability to find that quarterback.”
Lombardi seems to put a lot of weight into those seasons that most fans, and probably Tomlin himself, consider failures. In 2019, he helped the Steelers stay in the playoff hunt after losing Roethlisberger for basically the whole season. In 2021, with Roethlisberger a shadow of his former self and the Steelers going through a transition phase, Tomlin still coached them into the playoffs. In 2023, with one of the worst quarterback situations in the league, the Steelers somehow won 10 games and made the playoffs.
Fans are allowed to be angry that the Steelers haven’t won a Super Bowl since 2008 or a playoff game since 2016. But no one can say Tomlin hasn’t done the absolute best he can with what he has. Teams that have been in similar situations like the Los Angeles Chargers, New York Giants, and New England Patriots totally hit rock bottom after losing their franchise quarterback.
Despite using high draft picks on quarterbacks, none of those teams have been any more successful than Tomlin’s squad. The Chargers have one of the best young quarterbacks in the league in Justin Herbert, and yet, they’ve made the playoffs with him once, blowing a huge lead. Sometimes winning means more, even if the team is overachieving.
This isn’t the first time this offseason that Tomlin has been given praise for his coaching prowess, and there’s a reason for that. People with NFL experience respect him and see the great ability he has. That doesn’t excuse some of the gaffes he’s made, but it should buy him a little more patience. This year, he should field the Steelers’ best team since Roethlisberger was playing. If the Steelers fail to even win a playoff game again, then maybe the discussion changes slightly. Until then, Tomlin’s the best the Steelers have.
