Mike Tomlin can’t escape the fact that he led the Steelers to an 0-5 record to finish the season. For whatever virtues he might possess, the NFL is a results-based business. Were he in nearly any other franchise, he wouldn’t have the opportunity to try to turn things around.
And that’s all part of the issue the Steelers and Tomlin have, says ESPN reporter Brooke Pryor. Appearing on Dave Dameshek’s Shek Show podcast, he laid into the organization she covers. And she certainly didn’t spare Tomlin, who often doesn’t take kindly to her questions, anyway.
“Mike Tomlin’s biggest problem and the organization’s biggest problem is that for a guy who wants his brand to be, ‘We don’t seek comfort. I don’t seek comfort’, he is too comfortable,” Pryor said. “The Steelers are too comfortable. They’re too comfortable in doing things the way they’ve always been done and giving the same message every year.”
The Steelers pride themselves on being a model of stability, but at a certain point, stability is a hindrance. They have only had three different head coaches since 1969, which sounds good on paper. But there are franchises that have won playoff games with multiple head coaches since Tomlin last won one. Hell, one of those franchises is the Houston Texans—with Bill O’Brien beating the Bills in 2019.
A Bill O’Brien-led Texans team beat Josh Allen’s Bills five years ago, but Mike Tomlin can’t beat the Ravens? Or the Browns — or the Jaguars? Okay, you have to be a decent team to make the playoffs, but you should be able to beat good teams.
Pryor was repeating the same sentimentshe shared earlier in the week, suggesting that the message Tomlin is delivering to the Steelers is resonating. But the message he is sending might not be the one they need to hear any longer. It might be what the Steelers want to hear, but isn’t getting them anywhere.
“It’s being comfortable in, ‘We’ve had all this success. And it’s worked before, so it’s gonna work again.’ But the ‘before’ is getting farther and farther away,” she said of Tomlin and the Steelers sticking to the familiar. “No one is really challenging him or has the ability to challenge him. So he just keeps becoming more and more insulated.”
Steelers president Art Rooney II did his team no favors by not choosing his words more carefully. In defending their coming short of their goals, he said fans need to keep things in perspective. While they haven’t won in the playoffs, they have had success in the form of many regular-season wins. At least Mike Tomlin manages to avoid saying things like that.
Stability allows for the abatement of urgency. While there is value in forming the long-term plan, it also allows you to lean into “there’s always next year”. And Mike Tomlin knows there is always a next year with the Steelers. And Rooney knows there is always a next year with Tomlin. But when is the next year they actually win a playoff game?
