In his storied career as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ head coach, Mike Tomlin has the hardware and the resume to get him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame when it’s all said and done.
He has a Super Bowl ring, the wins, has never had a losing record in a season, and has consistently been one of the best coaches in football. Yet there is one thing missing: the NFL’s Coach of the Year award.
In his 18th NFL season, Tomlin has never even received a first-place vote for Coach of the Year. In fact, he has just 12 total vote points in the AP Coach of the Year voting since 2007, with five vote points in 2023 and five vote points in 2022. He had two vote points in 2019, the year Ben Roethlisberger missed all but six quarters of the season and the Steelers still had a non-losing record and nearly made the playoffs.
That should change this season, should the Steelers continue their hot stretch.
For ESPN’s Dan Graziano, Tomlin should be the NFL Coach of the Year, considering some of the decisions he’s made this season and the way the Steelers are playing.
“The Steelers have an excellent defense (Sunday notwithstanding — that’s a really good Commanders offense it faced), but the offense has had to come together on the fly under first-year coordinator Arthur Smith. Uncertainty at quarterback, very little at wide receiver outside of George Pickens and a young (and banged-up) offensive line have all been obstacles. It’s working, and it’s a testament to Tomlin’s steady hand and his conviction,” Graziano writes for ESPN.com. “The Lions’ Dan Campbell might be the early favorite for the Coach of the Year award, and Washington’s Dan Quinn has to be mentioned along with guys like Sean McDermott, Kevin O’Connell, Matt LaFleur and potentially Jim Harbaugh. And of course, if Andy Reid’s Chiefs go undefeated, it’d be pretty hard not to give it to him.
“But Tomlin’s clearly doing things few people expected him to be able to do with this team and this quarterback situation. The Steelers still have a tough remaining schedule and all six of their division games to play, so this might not look as good in a few weeks as it does now. But you can’t bet against Tomlin right now, and this 2024 season very well might end up being one of his best.”
Tomlin caught a lot of heat for the decision to go “lone ranger” and make a QB change entering Week 7, turning to Russell Wilson after Justin Fields had led the Steelers to a 4-2 record. But so far in three games with Wilson, things have paid off.
He’s pushing all the right buttons and is doing his best coaching job in a few years for the Black and Gold. It has Pittsburgh rolling, especially as things are starting to come together offensively.
Ultimately, he might not get the Coach of the Year award due to the work that Dan Campbell is doing in Detroit, and the resurgence that Kevin O’Connell is leading in Minnesota with Sam Darnold at QB, but Tomlin deserves all the praise and attention he’s getting, especially after years of people questioning him in the post-Roethlisberger era.
But if there was ever a year that Tomlin truly deserves it, it’s this season. That’s not an overreaction, either. As Graziano stated, it’s an underreaction to say Tomlin is the Coach of the Year.
