The first two days of the legal tampering period has been a bit disappointing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They lost out on QBs Justin Fields and Sam Darnold, saw the defensive line market balloon financially to uncomfortable levels, and saw all the big-name cornerbacks who could have plugged a big need land huge deals.
In the process, the Steelers are awaiting a decision from 41-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who is seemingly debating between them, the New York Giants, or retirement.
The situation the Steelers find themselves in has many fans and media seemingly upset with coach Mike Tomlin, who promised quite bit of changes this offseason but hasn’t exactly backed up those claims.
For former Steelers safety and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark, he wishes that Tomlin would just walk away from the Steelers and begin his second act like Andy Reid once did going from Philadelphia to Kansas City so that Steelers fans could really see what terrible is like in the NFL without Tomlin.
Clark’s comments came after ESPN’s Brooke Pryor stated that she felt Steelers fans are ready for a change during an appearance on ESPN earlier in the week.
“The fact that this team continues to be competitive, the fact that you can look at this roster and say in many places, ‘oh, they gotta get better there. Oh, they gotta get better there.’ And the fact that this team, to me, at least early every season overachieves and Mike Tomlin gives you a chance to compete, but yet you want to go do something else. That’s why I’ve been saying I wish they’d do it,” Clark said of wishing Tomlin would make a change to prove a point, according to video via First Take on ESPN. “I wish Mike Tomlin would walk into the office of Omar Khan and say, ‘It’s time for me to go have my Andy Reid second act. It’s time for me to go somewhere else with a new, a new group of players in a new locker room that my voice will resonate with and go win more Super Bowls.'”
For all the warts with Tomlin as a head coach, from poor clock management to the failures late in the season and the inability to get over the hump in the playoffs in the last decade, he does deserve credit for keeping the Steelers in the playoff picture year after year.
Maybe that’s not been the best for the franchise and the overall future, but year after year from Weeks 1-18, the Steelers are playing in meaningful football games. That matters.
But right now, after yet another one-and-done in the playoffs and starring down another major QB question, fans are fed up with Tomlin, his coaching style, and the lack of success. More often than not, there’s the credit of Tomlin being a Hall of Fame head coach, but it being time to move on. After all, all good things come to an end. Maybe it is time for Tomlin to walk away from Pittsburgh and try somewhere else.
If he does that, Clark believes Tomlin will have great success, and the Steelers will struggle, which will show fans who claim Pittsburgh is terrible under Tomlin what terrible truly is.
“To look at Mike Tomlin and think to yourself that he isn’t preparing this team, to think to yourself that he isn’t leading this team, to think to yourself that this team doesn’t understand week in and week out what they have to do, is absolutely ridiculous. And if you look at him and say, ‘Hey, you don’t have coordinators that go on and become head coaches or do these certain things,’ then maybe that’s on Mike Tomlin. But as far as this team being prepared, as far as this team, understanding what it takes to go out and win football games, there’s no coach in the NFL that’s doing what he does Monday through Saturday better than what he does,” Clark said. “And that’s where the job takes place, ’cause Sunday is our day. Sunday is the day that we go execute. And so I am not one of these Steeler fans. I’m not one of these Steeler alums that thinks Mike Tomlin needs to go, except for the fact that I’m Mike Tomlin’s friend.
“And I would love for the Pittsburgh Steeler fans, the young ones that Brooke Pryor’s talking about, for them to get a new head coach and they can see what being terrible really looks like.”
It’s great to hear Clark’s passionate defense of Tomlin and speak from a player’s standpoint that what happens on game days is on the players executing and not Tomlin coaching. But there are valid questions about the preparation aspect of Tomlin’s teams in big games lately.
The coaching tree criticism of Tomlin is largely a silly one, but the struggles of the coaching staff in general in recent years and the turnover that has occurred there certainly is on Tomlin.
And the Steelers are far from terrible. Stagnant? Sure, they are the definition of insanity more often than not, trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. But this team is far from terrible under Tomlin. They have winning seasons and are in the playoff picture. And in the playoffs, anything can happen.
That hasn’t been the case recently for the Steelers, but it’s largely true.
Maybe Tomlin does walk away eventually and go somewhere else, build up a program and win again. Maybe that will be a good reminder for Steelers fans if it happens. But right now, things are as bad as they have been under Tomlin from a fans perspective. People are on edge and want change. And it starts with Tomlin.
