Is this Tomlin's biggest deficiency?

Before I start let me qualify this post by saying that I am NOT on the fire Tomlin bandwagon. Overall, I think he's a pretty good coach but the story of his coaching legacy will be written over the next five years or so. From my perspective, however, Coach T has some deficiencies that concern me and to me his biggest deficiency, and the one that may damage his legacy the most, is his indecisiveness.

Let's look at the two Super Bowl coaches, the Harbaugh brothers. They both made bold and controversial decisions this year that set the course for their respective seasons. John fired his offensive coordinator mid-year and Jim made a very controversial quarterback change after an injury to his starter. They are both now coaching in the Super Bowl.

Tomlin on the other hand can't even seem to make the decision to fire a special teams coach who headed up one of the most inept special teams units I think I've ever seen in all of my years of watching football. Last year, he had to essentially be forced to make a change at the OC position. His offensive line struggles year after year but he's never proactively made a change there. His defensive backfield was sub-par when Ray Horton coached them but there was never any talk that changes were on the horizon with that unit. For crying out loud, the Broncos fired their DB coach the day after their safety badly mis-played one of Flacco's lollipop passes that cost the Broncos the game. This seemed extreme BUT at times you have to show your players that there are repercussions for failed performance! If you don't, you fall into a culture of mediocrity where underperformance is the hallmark.

This indecisiveness even reflects in his player-personnel moves. We never settled on a number one RB this year but instead Tomlin chose the running back by committee approach which never allowed any of our running backs to get in the rhythm of the season or the game. He tried to take a firm hand with the RBs, which was the only group he took this approach with by the way, but this didn't work well either. Dwyer essentially sat down for two games for a fumble! Really?! All of our better RBs were sat down in the Cleveland game and Chris Rainey was given the bulk of the carries! You've got to be kidding me! And before you point out that Tomlin was decisive here just stop right there. This was not decisiveness, this was pure stubbornness. What was Tomlin trying to prove here? That he was the boss? That's the kind of stubborn, cut your nose off to spite your face, decision making that got Mike Singletary fired in San Francisco. Why was Tomlin so hard on the RBs but seemed to be so easy on a WR corps that dropped passes, fumbled and made stupid mental errors the entire season?! This is inconsistency which is another Tomlin deficiency.

But I digress. Two VERY DECISIVE HEAD COACHES ARE HEADING TO NEW ORLEANS to play in the Super Bowl. Another seemingly indecisive coach is trying to determine whether or not the special teams coordinator should be given a pass while the exceptional special teams coaches (Bobby April and others) are being gobbled up by head coaches that MADE THE DECISION that their special teams needed to improve.

Agree or disagree? Is Tomlin too indecisive??

 

Yes. And when he does make a decision to do something, he always picks the wrong area to do it. For example, benching RBs but doing nothing to WRs who drop multiple catch-able balls.

 

I guess the Harbaugh decisions were ballsy, but in some ways they were going to be made anyways, it was just sooner rather than later.

The rumor is Flacco didn't get along with Cameron. An OC isn't going to last long if the franchise qb doesn't like you. Jon didn't want to fire Cameron, and it seems clear the Owner made him do it.

For Jim Harbaugh. I think everyone knew Alex Smith was going to lose his job the moment they drafted Kapernick in round 2. Jim just needed an excuse to do it and the injury was the perfect time.

For Tomlin, I think his deficiency is in game decisions/clock management kinds of things. Tomlin is sometimes very decisive in games and it often turns out to be the wrong choice. If he doesn't want to fire the SP Teams coach that is fine, but I would only allow 1 more year for the SP Teams coach to redeem himself.

 

Definately agree. You hit on a lot of the problems he has as a head coach. I don't know if he won't grow into being a better head coach. He has never been the head coach before coming here. Maybe it will just take him some time. I just hope it doesn't take too long. I'm not real big on people that sit on the fence and refuse to do something when it needs to be done.

 

Tomlin benched mendenhall

 

I also think you did right by qualifying your comments. I too am not on the "Fire Tomlin" bandwagon but rather the "Uh Oh" Bandwagon or "Concerned" bandwagon.

 

And Redman and Dwyer and Batch.

Funny how Wallace got a pass................................................and still dropped it.

 

i see tomlin more likely to marvin lewis or lovie smith , good guys but soft as a butter , when you deal with this people (players ,ref ) you need to be a general in command (no friends only discipline and order ). i don't think tomlin will be never that kind of guy

 

we should have had hoards of coaches in here already. ST's, WR,OL and maybe RB and DL.

 

D-line would never happen...he is also the assistant head coach.

 

And what did this accomplish?

 

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Well I will say that at least Tomlin did try and fix the line this year in the draft. It's just that two of the guys wound up going down with injury. My main problem with Tomlin is he doesn't seem to stress enough situational coaching. It seems like there are situations we are just not ready for. I was watching sound fx the other day on NFL Network and they were showing Belichik talking to a linemen and just giving him a scenario of what to do in a situation. The guy just blankly stared at him. LOL. But then Belichik said "well here's what to do" and the guy got it. Bill said "I just want you to think about situations". Ironically last night though they DIDN'T seem ready for situational football. BUT I would be REALLY surprised if they EVER make that mistake again. With us sometimes it seems like the same old song and dance. Whether it was fumbles, drops, penalties on ST, or picks at the WORST possible time. It just seems like sometimes we don't consider the situation. THAT is my biggest gripe on Tomlin.

 

double standard and non issue... only 4 wrs on the active roster...what do u want him to do line legursky up at wr?

 

bellacheat is not only the HC but he is one of the two O-line position coaches they have. little known fact there for ya.

 

so now the harbaughs are the flavor of the month.lol their isnt a person here that would have took either one of them over tomlin two years ago. tomlin is a good coach. he is a super bowl champion. i will take him over either of the brothers

 

BENCH THE son of the guns who caught the ball then fumbled it away!!

go to a 1 wide out and run the damn ball or throw it to the best damn TE in the game
hell with one receiver atleast the damn qb has an easier read MAYBE

 

Well that must explain why he kept talking to them about their stances too. I didn't know that. I knew that he was pretty much the dictator of the Pats though. LOL.

 

talk about a coach that doesn't put up with BS
i bet rainey will be there next year in Foxboro. who else got in trouble this year?

 

That's not the point I was trying to make. My point is that good head coaches make tough and controversial decisions at times and Tomlin seems to have an issue doing that. Whether you like the Hairball brothers or not (I don't) you have to admit they both made very high profile and controversial decisions during the season and the end result speaks for itself. I just think Tomlin freezes at times when a tough decision needs to be made.

 

Ta'Amu.

 

Also they took Talib and I think he has some legal stuff hanging over his head. He traded a 4th round pick to get him.

 

i know what you mean. i didnt say it right. it wasnt directed at anyone inpaticular. they made two decisions that worked out. they could have gone bad. i my opinion tomlin tried. he tried to motivare wallace by demoting him. same with rashard. he was limited with injuries on what he could do. it anit like when ben got hurt like alex smith did he had somewhere to turn. i think we would be in this game if injuries hadnt derailed us. i know i am in the minority.

 

Right on JackAttack, and your original post was very political correct. Very indecisive in decision making.

 

I gotcha.

I don't necessarily disagree with what you're saying. I'm just starting to have some concerns about Tomlin's decision making ability and I'll give you a few examples from this season:
-He should have made the commitment to the run and declared a starter early in the season. Instead, he juggled the RBBC the entire season.
-He left Leftwich in against the Ravens when he was obviously injured. Who knows if Batch could have pulled that game out but he did pretty well against them a couple of weeks later in Baltimore.
-Why sign Burress and then deactivate him? Another poor decision in my mind.
-There were several in game decisions (FG attempts against Dallas and Tennesee, etc.) and poor clock management that indicate Tomlin's decision making leaves a lot to be desired. Oh, and those 2 point conversions are still in his pocket. This from a coach that went for 2 from the 12 a few years back!
-Tomlin, sorry but your ST coach has to go. Of course it may be too late to hire a capable replacement at this point. He who hesitates is lost.

Tomlin has to start holding coaches accountable for the performance of their respective units. He seems to freeze when important decisions need to be made and either makes poor decisions or no decision at all.