Steelers HC Mike Tomlin has no energy for the non-losing-seasons conversation. He also, however, gives no life to the conversation about his playoff drought. Since 2016, his Steelers have not won a playoff game. While it burns him to lose these games, he has no response to the criticism for it.
“Engaging in that discussion, to me, is excuses”, Tomlin said on The Pivot podcast recently. “I don’t live that life. I pour everything I’ve got into what I do, and when the dust settles, it settles, and I keep it moving. You know I don’t care a whole lot about what people have to say”.
Although he has never had a losing season, Mike Tomlin now has a losing record in the playoffs. His Steelers have lost six postseason games in a row, which is the longest active losing streak in the NFL. But each loss is its own story—it has to be, because you can’t lose twice in the same season.
Of the Steelers’ six losses in a row, four came on the road, including their last three. In 2017, they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars as the No. 2 seed in the Divisional Round, one of the great collapses in recent playoff history. In their next appearance, Tomlin lost to a Cleveland Browns team without a head coach.
One can argue that the Steelers have been qualifying for playoffs they had no business being in. They lost to the Chiefs, the Bills, and the Ravens, and the Bills loss came, technically, with their third-string quarterback under center. But Mike Tomlin doesn’t want to discuss this, because he feels any discussion on his part in response to criticism for his losing streak is a defense of it. And he has no interest in doing that. All he’s concerned with is how to win in the playoffs the next year—how to win the Super Bowl. He doesn’t care what people have to say.
“I don’t. Respectfully, I don’t. Some people talk, some people watch, some people do”, Tomlin said. “I’m a doer. I’m glad I live in that world. I love the kitchen. I love competition. I love when it’s hot. I love the challenges that our business presents. That’s just the life I choose to live, and I understand the things that come with it, and I’m okay with it”.
Of course, Mike Tomlin might have more incentive to care in just about any other organization. Very rarely do organizations allow a head coach to keep his job this long without a playoff win. Sure, his Super Bowl early in his career bought him some favor, but this is an organizational vision.
The Steelers have lost by double digits in each of their past four playoff games, Tomlin most recently losing for a second time to division rival John Harbaugh, 28-14. Now with Aaron Rodgers, Jalen Ramsey, and other major additions, however, he is energized for the latest run. And he hopes this season ends the talk—but only because the only thing that ends the talking is winning.
