The Pittsburgh Steelers under head coach Mike Tomlin seem to have a well-defined floor. The Steelers simply do not have losing seasons under Tomlin, and that’s generally a good thing. You want to win games more than you lose.
But the Steelers also seem to have found a ceiling over the past decade. They have not won a playoff game since 2016. And when you couple that with a lack of losing seasons, it puts your team in a bind not often seen in the NFL. The Steelers simply are too good to get a high draft pick. That means it’s really hard to acquire a franchise quarterback to punch through that ceiling.
And perhaps there needs to be an amicable split for the sake of both the franchise and Tomlin’s coaching career.
“Point blank, there needs to be a conversation between Omar and Mike T,” said former Steelers S Ryan Clark on Friday’s episode of NFL Live on ESPN. “And Mike T needs to go find his Kansas City like Andy Reid. Andy Reid had his Philly, Mike T had his Pittsburgh. Let Mike T go find his Kansas City.”
This isn’t the first time that Clark has suggested Tomlin might need to go elsewhere. Just earlier in January, Clark discussed the idea in an interview with TMZ Sports, wondering if Tomlin would have a better time being heard in a new locker room.
The situation is similar to Andy Reid’s time as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. He coached there from 1999 to 2012, winning one NFC championship in 2004 and no Super Bowls. He also had eight double-digit win seasons during that span. But he couldn’t get over the hump with the Eagles.
And now we all know what he’s done in Kansas City. He’s already won three Super Bowls and is going to be coaching for a fourth (and third straight). He has a .730 winning percentage in the regular season with the Chiefs versus a .583 percentage with the Eagles. It certainly seems like moving to Kansas City reinvigorated Reid. Could it be that Reid’s same message just needed new ears? And could the same be said for Mike Tomlin?
Yet Steelers president Art Rooney II believes that Tomlin’s message is still heard loud and clear in Pittsburgh. But is that what the results are showing? If you believe that Tomlin is a winning head coach, as Rooney does, then why is the team not winning playoff games?
Well, the Steelers play in the AFC North against the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals. That means you play quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow twice a year. Sure, the Steelers beat both of them once this season. But Burrow got the last laugh in Week 18, forcing the Steelers into a playoff rematch with the Ravens. And Jackson reeled off two wins in a row against the Steelers this year, including the playoff loss.
The NFL Live panel previously discussed that Tomlin coaches too well for the Steelers to own a high pick. And the Steelers certainly seem reticent to swing a big trade-up for a shot at a franchise-changing talent.
So, what will change in Pittsburgh? Will the Steelers continue to win regular-season games without winning in the playoffs? Will they find a way to get better production from the quarterback position? Or will Mike Tomlin eventually move on and find his own version of Kansas City? This is why Clark suggests the split.
But it all may be a moot point. There are no signs that Tomlin wants to move on from Pittsburgh. And there are no signs that the Steelers organization wants him to go.
