When you talk about Mike Tomlin, there are basically two camps. On one side you have those who say the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach is among the very top in the NFL. On the other side, you have his critics who call into question his postseason success.
Our friends over at Touchdown Wire ranked all 32 head coaches in the NFL and they are squarely in the camp of Tomlin being an elite coach as they ranked him third in the league behind only the Kansas City Chiefs’ Andy Reid and Los Angeles Rams’ Sean McVay.
Here’s what they had to say about Tomlin:
Now, while the Steelers have yet to have a losing record in the 17 seasons that Tomlin has been running the show, they also haven’t won a playoff game in seven years. It’s evident that Tomlin and Co. feel that pressure, as they made a lot of “non-Steeler” moves this offseason. They traded away Kenny Pickett and brought in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. They spent big money in free agency, specifically on linebacker Patrick Queen. Pittsburgh is going to be in the AFC playoff scramble, once again. We’ll see if they can end their playoff drought in the midst of it.
There are several things I’ve come to accept during Tomlin’s tenure. First, former general manager Kevin Colbert did him no favors in his final years with the team. But second, and perhaps more important, players want to play for Tomlin. They just don’t want to play their best. Players past and present sing his praises as a motivational guy and leader of men, but it just doesn’t show it on the field on a consistent basis.
