Since the Pittsburgh Steelers lost five straight games to end the regular season, including a blowout playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens, questions have been asked about Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
One media member who has been a passionate defender of Tomlin is ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky. Orlovsky was on Get Up earlier this week and explained that the Steelers quarterback situation is so bad that it would be hard for anyone else to get better out of the team.
“And so to sit here and think that we’re just gonna get rid of Mike Tomlin as an organization, we’re just gonna go find another really good football coach that’s really smart, and he’s going to do it as good or better job, also, without a quarterback is lunacy,” said Orlovsky. “I mean, quarterback-wise, the Steelers are closer to the Tennessee Titans and the New York Jets and the Las Vegas Raiders and the Indianapolis Colts than they are the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills.”
Tomlin is clearly a floor-raiser—that is undeniable. It is impressive that he was able to get eight wins out of quarterbacks Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges in 2019 and 10 wins in 2023 with a committee of Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, and Rudolph at the quarterback position. However, what is the end goal?
When Tomlin says the “Standard is the Standard,” that standard is winning Super Bowls, not making the playoffs. Right now, the “Standard” is being reduced to just making the playoffs, and the national media, like Orlovsky, is pushing that.
Sure, the Steelers quarterback position is closer to the Titans, Jets, Raiders, and Colts than it is to the Bengals, Ravens, and Bills. Tomlin deserves credit for keeping Pittsburgh competitive, unlike the Jets, Raiders, and Colts. But at the same time, the Steelers, under Tomlin, have passed on great quarterbacks. Pittsburgh could’ve drafted Ravens QB Lamar Jackson in 2018 but passed on him and then took Rudolph later in that same draft. Even more egregiously, in 2020, after QB Ben Roethlisberger was coming off season-ending elbow surgery and was 38 years old, the team passed on current Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts.
Pittsburgh is in quarterback purgatory right now, and it will be hard for them to improve as a team until they find their quarterback. But to say Tomlin is great, and we can’t criticize him for consistently losing in the playoffs is a slap in the face to the fans. He is a big part of why the quarterback position is a wreck, and his philosophy of taking care of the football and not being aggressive is not suited for the 2020s NFL.
The Steelers are not moving on from Tomlin; they just rebuffed a trade offer from the Chicago Bears regarding him. It’s a moot point to argue who should take over for Tomlin or how the team would be without him. But, Tomlin has played a big part in why the Steelers are very mediocre right now. Instead of singing his praises for how impressive it is for a team in quarterback purgatory to continually make the playoffs just to get blown out in the Wild Card round, maybe Orlovsky and other media members should ask why the Steelers are still in quarterback purgatory.
