Despite being the longest-tenured active head coach in the NFL and never having a losing record while also leading the Pittsburgh Steelers to two Super Bowl appearances and a Super Bowl victory, head coach Mike Tomlin has never won the NFL Coach of The Year award. In an interview with Taylor Rooks on Amazon Prime ahead of the Steelers’ Thursday Night Football matchup with the Cleveland Browns, Tomlin shrugged off not having the award on his lengthy resume.
“I don’t,” Tomlin said when asked by Rooks if he feels any emotion about not winning Coach of the Year. “I think often times, that award is given to people who surprise the field and things of that nature. I want to be so steady that I’m not a surprise.”
Tonight, Tomlin is coaching against a two-time Coach of the Year recipient in Kevin Stefanski, whose Browns are 2-8 this season. Tomlin is right that the award is typically given to the coach whose team outperforms expectations and maybe comes out of nowhere to have success. With Tomlin never having a losing season, there’s always some level of expectation that the Steelers will be a competitive team. Hence, there isn’t much of a surprise when Pittsburgh does have a strong season.
With the turnover at quarterback this offseason, there was some doubt about the Steelers and how well they would do in 2024. But at 8-2, Tomlin has the Steelers as one of the best teams in the league and a team that controls its own destiny when it comes to getting the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed. Of all seasons, this is the one where Tomlin has probably surpassed expectations the most so far, and that’s why he’s currently the favorite to win the award, via DraftKings.
But it doesn’t sound as if winning the award ultimately means all that much to Tomlin. He’s a future Hall of Famer, and consistently winning and being considered as one of the best coaches among his peers over a continual stretch is a bigger deal than just a one season award. If this is the year Tomlin wins the award, his decision to start Russell Wilson over Justin Fields after Week 6 will be cited as a major reason why. As will the play of this Steelers team on both sides of the ball, as both the offense and the defense have overperformed expectations.
But at the end of the day, the award doesn’t really matter, and Tomlin will be judged by if he can win in the postseason this year.
