Although he’s been one of the best coaches in the NFL for years, Mike Tomlin has never won the Coach of the Year award. In some years, including 2024, he seemed primed to receive that honor, but someone else has always beaten him out. While Tomlin has his issues, he’s still been an extremely successful coach. Analyst Kevin Clark believes Tomlin should have received the award for the work he did managing big personalities like Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown.
“He had Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown, and everything seemed normal,” Clark said Friday on ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike. “He retroactively should get five Coach of the Year awards because of that.”
Brown and Bell did seem like a handful. However, with Tomlin as their coach, they were two of the most dynamic players in the league. They were together on the Steelers for five seasons, and in that time, Pittsburgh consistently had one of the best offenses in the NFL.
After they left the Steelers, neither Brown nor Bell was the same player. With the Oakland Raiders, Brown almost instantly imploded, forcing his way out before he played a down for the team. His short tenure there was filled with drama. He had many of the same problems with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well. Fans likely remember when he ran off the field in the middle of a game.
Bell was less of mess, but his post-Steelers NFL career was still a disaster. After a protracted contract dispute, Bell left Pittsburgh for the New York Jets. He basically only lasted one season there, and after that, his time as a starting running back was over. He bounced around a few different teams, but he was never the same player.
While they were worse in other places, Brown and Bell had problems under Tomlin. It felt like Brown was a drama magnet, with outbursts common from him. Meanwhile, Bell faced multiple suspensions for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.
Neither player was a saint with the Steelers. However, Tomlin did amazing job managing their personalities and getting the best out of them. In hindsight, maybe he should receive more credit for keeping that core together for as long as he did. Other legendary coaches couldn’t handle one of them, let alone both. It’s a testament to Tomlin’s ability to manage people.
