The Steelers could have been contenders in 2025

This may be true.

And it's also exactly what many were saying about Cowher and the Marty-ball offense until we won.

The problem is that today's NFL is hyper-focused on the QB. And we haven't had good QB play since before Ben got hurt.

We'll probably never get to find out, but I think we would be more aggressive offensively if we had above average QB play. But I think the way to achieve the mission of the team (try to win every week so you can be competitive to make the playoffs ever year) without an above average QB is this turtle ball and hope the D plays well enough to carry the team.

 

Rams HC McVay said turnovers are not a focus of his (offense or defense). Instead, he focuses on EPA, i.e efficiency. That's how he constructs his roster, teams, schemes, gameplans. Maximize efficiency stats on both sides of the ball. Use the whole playing field.

Tomlin: "beat your man", "play harder"

 

Cowher was also able to adapt to the personnel his team had. The Steelers were a pass-first team in 1995 and 2002 for different reasons. In 1995, they needed to open up more because the defense wasn't the same without Woodson. In 2002, the Steelers had two very good receivers in Ward and Buress(over 1300 yards for both), and the defense was possibly the worst in the Cowher era.

 

So true and my god I would love to have a head coach like McVay!

 

Tomlin only needs to beat 60% of the field to make the postseason. He has shown he can do that on a regular basis. But you are spot on, the playoffs are a whole other level of football, and his system is terrible in those matchups. Look at what all that strategizing, scheming, and gameplanning does in the first quarter of playoff games. Completely outscored, outplayed, outcoached.

 

Cowher and Tomlin are very similar IMO.

Good but not great coaches. Core strength is motivation. Not terrible at Xs and Os, but better when they have good to great coordinators. Especially true on offense. But biggest successes came when we had LeBeau as DC (and with Ben in his prime at his lowest cap%).

We also had several years under Tomlin with high offensive output and rebuilding / poor defenses. Really hurt when we lost 50 because we probably could have been close to peak on both sides of the ball at the same time if he stayed healthy (Shazier and TJ both in their primes would have been fun to watch).

 

Yep. He's a good high floor coach. I think it's because he doesn't take many risks. Which is also why he's not a good high ceiling coach, especially with below average talent.

And I think we maybe could have eked out a win in the NFC.

But the playoff draws we've gotten since Ben retired have been rough. And I just don't think you can beat Mahomes, Allen, or Jackson (the 3 QBs we faced) without Mahomes, Jackson, or Allen (or Burrow). Those guys have only lost to each other in the playoffs after their first trips I think.

The Browns loss is still the hardest one to stomach. Although by the time the end of the season came, I think we all realized that we got those early wins using smoke and mirrors (coaching?). Maybe we could have won that game, but I think it's pretty hard to blame the coaching when our perennial probowl C snaps it way over our massive QB's head. Or when our "riverboat gambling" QB throws 4 picks. To Ben's credit, he did almost dig us out of the hole though...just not quite enough.

 

I agree but it could have helped some I would like to think.