The Pittsburgh Steelers have lost two straight games to fall to 3-2 on the season, so naturally, the annual “Mike Tomlin isn’t a good coach” argument is going to play itself out in the national media. It’s a yearly tradition whenever the Steelers have any kind of losing streak, and today, it was Danny Parkins on FS1’s Breakfast Ball ripping Tomlin for his lack of playoff success – despite the fact it’s Week 6.
“He deserves a ton of respect for doing more with less. Never having a losing season is incredible. With Mike Tomlin, you have a very good floor, you have a good culture, you have an eloquent, impressive leader who commands a room. All those things I would never take away from him,” Parkins said. “But I would also say he’s the single most overrated coach in the NFL. This guy is living off of a Super Bowl from 16 years ago with a quarterback that he didn’t bring in. In the postseason, since that Super Bowl, he is 5-9.
“This guy is a defensive coach, gives you a high floor. But he does not actually give you a chance in the modern NFL to win a Super Bowl, because he hasn’t either through hiring the right person, drafting the right quarterback, or actually having a defense that is dominant enough to win in January against great quarterbacks, he no longer gives you a chance to win a Super Bowl.”
For one, I feel like Parkins’ argument about Tomlin not “bringing in” Ben Roethlisberger is a dumb argument. A Super Bowl win is a Super Bowl win, and I don’t think it should be a knock that he won a Super Bowl with a quarterback who was in Pittsburgh before him.
I don’t totally disagree with Parkins’ argument, though, as the Steelers have lost in the playoffs to some teams and quarterbacks they’ve had no business losing to, including Blake Bortles and Tim Tebow. The defensive performances haven’t been nearly good enough for a team that prides itself on that side of the ball.
But the idea that Mike Tomlin can’t win in the modern NFL and is incapable of winning a Super Bowl isn’t something I agree with. You can’t win a Super Bowl in the modern NFL with Kenny Pickett as your quarterback, sure. And Tomlin may have had a hand in bringing Pickett to Pittsburgh, but I wouldn’t totally fault Tomlin for Pittsburgh’s poor quarterback play.
Late-career Ben Roethlisberger kept the Steelers in games, but offensive line and run-game struggles limited the ceiling of those offenses, and some of the defenses, including the 2017 one that wilted against the Jaguars in the playoffs, had major flaws that were exposed. Those instances don’t show me that Tomlin can’t win a Super Bowl ever again.
The quarterback situation does seem to be the never-ending topic in Pittsburgh recently, but we’ll see if one of Justin Fields or Russell Wilson can help lead this team into the playoffs, and if they do, if this group can have more success and help try to dispel the thought that Mike Tomlin can’t win when it matters.
