While the Pittsburgh Steelers have made the playoffs, many fans are still not happy with the way the team performed this season. That’s mainly because of how terrible the Steelers looked down the stretch. They had a chance to win the AFC North, but they lost their final four games. That kind of collapse has some people wanting the Steelers to move on from Mike Tomlin. However, former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel believes that would be huge mistake.
“If the Steelers fire him, they should be banished from the NFL,” Daniel said Tuesday on FS1’s The Facility. “I’m gonna use the Saints as an example with Sean Payton. I was with him for five years. Sean Payton was the best thing to ever happen to that Saints organization.
“Brought them their Super Bowl, and got really close like three or four other times where we lost crazy in the playoffs. What has that Saints franchise been since he’s left now?”
Payton is a good example to compare to Tomlin. He was the Saints’ head coach from 2006 to 2021. He led them to a Super Bowl victory, but he couldn’t get them back to those heights. His situation is a little different than Tomlin’s because he retired after the 2021 season. He wanted to come back to the NFL, but not with the Saints, so they traded him to the Denver Broncos.
Since then, the Saints and Broncos have been on very different paths. The Saints are facing a long rebuild, already firing Payton’s replacement and not looking like a playoff team, even in a weak division. Meanwhile, the Broncos made the playoffs this season with rookie quarterback Bo Nix starting.
Part of the issue with firing Tomlin is the fear of the unknown. With Tomlin, the Steelers know they always have a chance to make the playoffs, regardless of how their roster looks. However, they’ve also been unable to break through their ceiling in recent years.
“I just go back to, anytime you’re talking about is he on the hot seat who are you going to replace him with?” Daniel said. “Who is a better head coach on the free market right now than Mike Tomlin?
“I get it, I can point to Sean Payton, time ran out in New Orleans, look at him now in Denver. And some other teams have just, ‘Time’s up. You move the situation.’ But Mike Tomlin’s one of the best head coaches out there.”
Tomlin is one of the best coaches in the NFL, and he wouldn’t be jobless for very long, but it’s tough to definitely say there is no upgrade available. While there are usually growing pains with new head coaches, the Steelers have a strong history of finding great leaders.
It doesn’t sound like Tomlin is going anywhere this season, so this discussion probably needs tabled until next year at the very earliest. However, it feels like Tomlin will have this job until he doesn’t want it anymore. The Steelers are notoriously patient.
That might be frustrating for some, but if the Steelers can find their next franchise quarterback, they might become contenders again. Tomlin has been doing a lot with less at certain positions. Who knows, they could always beat the Baltimore Ravens this week too. That might quiet some of the chatter around firing Tomlin.
