Thank you Mike Tomlin

I would not be surprised at all if this is how it goes down (for Harbaugh too).

The interesting thing is that there are a lot of open coaching positions. Maybe one of these teams just backs up the Brinks truck for Tomlin or Harbaugh.

I also wonder if there might be some teams who are only kind of "meh" on their current coaching situation that would be making some phone calls behind the scenes for these two guys.

 

Well, I chalk up Cowher's lack of championships due to not having a franchise QB. He managed to get us to the SB with Neil O'Donnell. Once he got Ben, we went from 6-10 to 15-1 and an AFCC game and then winning the SB. Having said that, both are HOF coaches in my eyes. Sure Tomlin won with "Cowher's roster", but it still takes a great coach to win a SB with anyone's team.

 

I think it's interesting that you credit Cowher for the SB trip with NOD, but discount Tomlin's SB win (and presumably his SB loss against GB too).

How many of the best players on that SBXXX team were "Noll's players"?

• Dawson
• Woodson (made it back for the SB IIRC)
• Lloyd
• Lake
• O'Donnel

I'm sure there are more.

If your argument is that Ben is the biggest reason both Cowher and Tomlin won SBs, I strongly agree.

I also think that Ben deserves a lot of the "credit" for the losses we had in the playoffs where he had significant turnovers. Several turned into TDs for the other team and were the difference in the game (e.g., GB SB loss, Jax loss).

It's too bad that LeBeau is too old to bring back. Because he's the common thread in all our SB appearances since Noll left.

 

Thanks Mike

 

The fact the posters name is PickensBurgh tells me a lot about his character

 

When it comes down to it... the team Tomlin assembled was the Killer B's era ... and unfortunately it didn't lead to Superbowls. However, you got to remember part of that is due to totally unforeseen things happening: Ryan Shazier and Stephon Tuitt.

Can you image if the Killer B's never imploded, and Shazier and Tuitt would have still been around with Heyward???? I think we would have reached at least one more Superbowl.

I think that is what I will remember most about Tomlin's tenure... the Killer B's era was amazing to watch. The team was tremendously entertaining, but unfortunately they couldn't put it all together and win the big one.

 

We certainly had bad luck re: injuries with the Bs. I wonder how many playoff games had all three on the field for the whole game. I don't think it's very many.

Agree on Shazier and Tuitt.

It is funny that under Tomlin we probably had the best offense we've ever had (killer Bs). But also the Mason / Duck and Kenny / Canada eras which were borderline unwatchable (at best).

 

Always felt that Lebeau is the best football mind of this franchises history. Better than Noll, Cowher, or Tomlin. Never bought the "Cowhers players" criticism of Tomlin. I will concede that Cowhers DC was key to both coaches championship success.