The Pittsburgh Steelers are 8-3 and lead the AFC North. Raise your hand if you thought that’s where this team would be at this juncture of the NFL season. If you raised your hand, look at yourself in the mirror. Ask yourself whether you made that pick as a homer or genuinely looked at the schedule and thought it possible. And then say thank you to Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin for guiding the team this far.
Sure, the Steelers are coming off a tough loss to the Cleveland Browns last Thursday night. It was a game many felt they should have won, considering the Browns had only two wins going into the matchup. But one of those wins was against the Baltimore Ravens, so it wasn’t unprecedented.
The reality is that the Steelers weren’t expected to be there. Far more people predicted the Steelers would be in last place in the AFC North than winning it. But here they are with a win over the Ravens and only six games remaining in the season.
“This goes directly to the masterful coaching job Tomlin has once again delivered, which actually shouldn’t be surprising,” Jeffri Chadiha wrote in his NFL.com article on what each NFL team has to be thankful for. “The man has never endured a losing season as an NFL head coach. This is what he does. There were questions about the quarterback situation, and Tomlin has maximized the talents of both Justin Fields and Russell Wilson (and the coach’s decision to switch to Wilson in Week 7 has proven to be masterful). The defense is elite again, and there have been enough players making key plays at critical junctures that the wins have kept coming. We all know this team has its flaws. What makes Tomlin special is he knows how to work with those limitations and give his team a chance to win week in and week out.”
Chadiha points out Tomlin’s decision to pivot from Fields to Wilson as a huge move that’s paid off the Steelers. And it’s easy to look back and say that.
But Tomlin was bucking the mainstream thought process when he made that move. Fields was 4-2 as the starting quarterback. He had just led the Steelers to a 30-point performance against the Las Vegas Raiders. And still Mike Tomlin made the switch to Wilson.
The Steelers responded by reeling off two straight games with over 400 yards of offense. And five straight games (and counting) of 300-plus yards of offense. The Steelers only accounted for 300 or more yards twice in their first six games (and 400-plus once).
Wilson and the Steelers won four straight games before losing to Cleveland last Thursday. Despite the loss, the Steelers are completely in control of the AFC North. That’s not to say it will be easy with the schedule. The Steelers have to face the Ravens again along with games against the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. That doesn’t even include both games against the Cincinnati Bengals and a rematch in Pittsburgh against the Browns.
But the Steelers are in a great spot right now overall. And the Steelers should be giving thanks to Mike Tomlin for that. Sure, there’s still plenty of work to be done.
Yet you’d rather be 8-3 with things to work on than 3-8 and the same problems. Perhaps 2024 will be the year that Mike Tomlin wins NFL Coach of the Year for the first time.
