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What if McCarthy was the only option?

Discussion in 'Steelers Talk' started by Frost33, Jan 25, 2026.

  1. TrueFan

    TrueFan Well-Known Member

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    Talk about moving the goal post! Stay on topic ....how did Tomlin do, by comparison to the post merger coaches, Steeler coaches before him?
     
  2. NorthernBlitz

    NorthernBlitz Well-Known Member

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    Again with the confession through projection.

    Your argument was that Tomlin did little with the talent he had (which you said was elite).

    What I'm trying to do now, is find some kind of objective way to test the hyperbolic statement you made.

    So we need to have a sense of what "did little with it" might mean.

    I think this is a much easier task than us trying to determine how much elite talent most SB winning teams have (or something).

    Notice how again you avoid the simple questions that disprove your hyperbolic statement.

    Let's try a different way (where you get to trash Tomlin!): How many more SB wins or appearances do you think we should have had under Tomlin?

    Because I think what you really mean was something like: "I think we should have won more of the ~3.25 Ben, Bell, and Brown played together in the playoffs."
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2026 at 5:37 PM
  3. Blast Furnace

    Blast Furnace Staff Member Mod Team

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    Obviously cant prove this but I believe 100% Ben leads us to more SB’s if Cowher stayed on.

    And @HeinzMustard@HeinzMustard is spot on when he says Tomlin should have been fired after the Jags playoffs loss. No other coach would have retained his job with his playoff failures the last 10 seasons.

    Steelers HC gig is the most secure job in the NFL.
     
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  4. jeh1856

    jeh1856 Buds

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    Gibberish
     
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  5. TrueFan

    TrueFan Well-Known Member

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    Thats nice
     
  6. TrueFan

    TrueFan Well-Known Member

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    No offense dude, it's a special interest forum, but my dad taught me to never fight against an unarmed man and I fear continuing this conversation with you would make him roll over in his grave.

    Tomlin had a lot of talent. He did very little with it. If you can't face that, that's your problem
     
  7. jeh1856

    jeh1856 Buds

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    Tomlin retired
     
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  8. NorthernBlitz

    NorthernBlitz Well-Known Member

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    Very original dude.

    And another dodge. Because you know that your argument won't stand up if you actually look at what happened.
     
  9. NorthernBlitz

    NorthernBlitz Well-Known Member

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    It's certainly possible.

    I generally think it's very unlikely that Ben does something gets to something like 6 SBs and wins 4.

    • I think Brady's the only guy who's been in more than 6 SBs (Mahomes is still counting though).
    • Brady's also the only guy who's won more than 4 (Montana and Bradshaw also have 4 wins...Mahomes with 3 and counting).
    • There are only 6 guys in the history of the league with more SB wins than Ben. Only 2 of them (Mahomes and Brady) won all of their championships after UFA and the Cap.
    • Only 8 guys with more SB appearances (only 4 guys that played all their UFA/Cap era I think).
    I did think Ben had a chance to be the GOAT early in his career. But he ended up being "only" an extremely good QB.

    Cowher does have a better playoff record than Tomlin. But I think all of us who are old enough remember the heartbreaking losses at home that Cowher presided over too.

    And most of us who are old enough probably remember that there was a super vocal part of the fanbase (especially online...I was on the Trib board with a guy named "Crash") who absolutely hated Cowher. Talked about how he was just Marty 2.0 and that he'd never win anything. All he did was choke. I was less vocal at the time, but if we could dig up the old board, you'd see me posting that Cowher was actually a really good coach if you looked at the numbers. But on that old board, the guy who did it the most was Captain Lemming. He migrated over here too.

    Anyway, for anyone who was on message boards back then...there were people who really hated Cowher for his inability to win big games...especially when we were favored.

    But the Steelers business model, refusal to reflexively fire him because of some emotional outrage (I'm thinking of Jerry Jones), and desire to be in the playoffs as often as possible eventually paid off.

    "Should" Cowher have won more often than he did? I don't know. It's really hard to win a single elimination tournament many times. We were the 1 seed in the AFC 2x under Cowher. We were also the 2 seed 2x under Cowher.

    "Should" Tomlin have won more often than he did? I don't know. It's really hard to win a single elimination tournament many times. We were the 1 seed in the AFC 0x under Tomlin. We were also the 2 seed 1x under Tomlin.

    Here's the wild thing that I think many fans don't really think about IMO. If Cowher played all of Cowher's career again, we could have won more SBs. So many playoff games come down to a bounce here or there (ask Franco!). If Cowher had a time machine and ran all the games again, does NOD not have a horrible game against Dallas and we somehow win as underdogs? Does Ben not make that tackle? Does some coach on the Seahawks do a better job of scouting how we run trick plays where ARE throws the ball (he was 22/27 for 323 yards and 6 TDs in the NFL...but I don't know how many came after the SB)?

    Maybe we win a different SB if BC stays on. Maybe we don't win the other one we did. Who knows...
     
  10. TrueFan

    TrueFan Well-Known Member

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    No ****! WHEN?

    ****, I am going to celebrate!
     
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  11. NorthernBlitz

    NorthernBlitz Well-Known Member

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    You are probably right that other coaches get fired after a game like the Jags game.

    But again...let's look at Cowher through the exact same lens. When do we think other teams would have fired Cowher?

    I don't think Cowher wins with Ben on pretty much any other team in the league. Because I think any non-Rooney owner would have fired him by then.

    That's another hypothetical that we can't prove. But I think it's probably true. Even if not for all other owners. Certainly many of them.
     
  12. TrueFan

    TrueFan Well-Known Member

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    I feel like I need to go to a mental institution just to improve the value of conversation:hmm:

    Do you sell what you smoke? Although my drug days are well past me I would like to be oblivious once in awhile too.
     
  13. jeh1856

    jeh1856 Buds

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    I’m thinking SilverBoob reincarnated
     
  14. NorthernBlitz

    NorthernBlitz Well-Known Member

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    All this because you didn't know that the BBBs only played 4 (really 3.25) playoff games together.

    Remember when I pointed out your first ad hominem post and you were like:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Maybe check your last few...
     

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