Playoff history by coach

Got bored, decided to chart our playoff wins and losses as favorites and underdogs over the years. Tomlin needs a couple more deep runs to catch up, Cowher just didn't have the damn QBs but still did admirably well, Noll was the man - no signature horrible losses, a couple of historic underdog wins, kicked blanking arse as a favorite.



Chuck Noll

Noll was an amazing 13-2 as a playoff favorite. One loss was at 13-1 Oakland without Rocky and Franco (WTF were they favored?), the other was as a 1-pt favorite over San Diego in a strike year. Noll's Steelers took care of business.

As a playoff underdog, they were 3-6, with the franchise defining 1974 AFCC win at Oakland, and playoff stunners in Denver in 1984 and Houston in 1989. They also hung tough as a huge underdog in the 1989 divisional round at Denver, and in fairness, got rocked a few times.

1972
Steelers (-2) 13, Raiders 7
Dolphins 21 Steelers (+3) 17

1973
Raiders 33 Steelers (+3.5) 14

1974
Steelers (-6.5) 32 Bills 14
Steelers (+5.5) 24 Raiders 13
Steelers (-3) 16 Vikings 6

1975
Steelers (-10.5) 28 Colts 10
Steelers (-6.5) 16 Raiders 10
Steelers (-7) 21 Cowboys 17

1976
Steelers (-3.5) 40 Colts 14
Raiders 24 Steelers (-4) 7

1977
Broncos 34 Steelers (+2) 21

1978
Steelers (-7) 33 Broncos 10
Steelers (-7) 34 Oilers 5
Steelers (-3.5) 35 Cowboys 31

1979
Steelers (-9.5) 34 Dolphins 14
Steelers (-9.5) 27 Oilers 13
Steelers (-10) 31 Rams 19

1982
Chargers 31 Steelers (-1) 28

1983
Raiders 38 Steelers (+7) 10

1984
Steelers (+4.5) 24 Broncos 17
Dolphins 45 Steelers (+10) 28

1989
Steelers (+7) 26 Oilers 23
Broncos 24 Steelers (+10) 23

Bill Cowher

Cowher lacked the franchise QB Noll and Tomlin had for much of his career. As a favorite, they were a respectable 10-4 in the playoffs, but with bad losses to San Diego and New England. As a dog, 2-5 with signature wins at Indy and Denver in the 2005 playoffs.

1992
Bills 24 Steelers (-2) 3

1993
Chiefs 27 Steelers (+7.5) 24

1994
Steelers (-3.5) 29 Browns 9
Chargers 17 Steelers (-6) 13

1995
Steelers (-6) 40 Bills 21
Steelers (-11) 20 Colts 16
Cowboys 27 Steelers (+13.5) 17

1996
Steelers (-8) 42 Colts 14
Patriots 28 Steelers (+3) 3

1997
Steelers (-6) 7 Patriots 6
Broncos 24 Steelers (-1) 21

2001
Steelers (-5.5) 27 Ravens 10
Patriots 24 Steelers (-10) 17

2002
Steelers (-8) 36 Browns 33
Titans 34 Steelers (+4.5) 31

2004
Steelers (-9) 20 Jets 17
Patriots 41 Steelers (+3) 27

2005
Steelers (-3) 31 Bengals 17
Steelers (+8.5) 21 Colts 18
Steelers (+3.5) 34 Broncos 17
Steelers (-4) 21 Seahawks 10

Mike Tomlin

Tomlin's Steelers are 7-4 as playoff favorites, but with notable ugly losses to Denver, Jacksonville, and Cleveland. As underdogs, the Steelers are 1-4, with an 18-16 win in KC as their lone victory. Tomlin needs a deep playoff run in 2020 to catch Cowher, and a couple more after that to catch Noll. He's also the only one of the three to have a franchise QB for his entire tenure, minus 2019.

2007
Jaguars 31 Steelers (+2.5) 29

2008
Steelers (-6.5) 31 Chargers 17
Steelers (-6) 23 Ravens 14
Steelers (-6.5) 27 Cardinals 23

2010
Steelers (-3) 31 Ravens 24
Steelers (-4) 24 Jets 19
Packers 31 Steelers (+3) 25

2011
Broncos 29 Steelers (-7.5) 23

2014
Ravens 30 Steelers (-3) 17

2015
Steelers (-3) 18 Bengals 16
Broncos 23 Steelers (+7.5) 16

2016
Steelers (-11) 30 Dolphins 12
Steelers (+2.5) 18 Chiefs 16
Patriots 36 Steelers (+5.5) 17

2017
Jaguars 45 Steelers (-7) 42

2020
Browns 48 Steelers (-5) 37

One damning thing about Tomlin's record is that I can only think of 3 of 16 playoff games where he was outgunned at QB - Rodgers, Brady, and Warner. The other 13 games were against Garrard, Flacco x 3, Sanchez, Moore, McCarron, A. Smith, Bortles, Tebow, Rivers, Mayfield, and washed up Peyton Manning.

Cowher, on the other hand, was often fighting uphill with matchups like these:

O'Donnell vs. Montana
O'Donnell vs. Kelly
O'Donnell vs. Aikman
Tomczak vs. Bledsoe
Kordell vs. Bledsoe
Kordell vs. Elway
Kordell vs. Brady/Bledsoe
Maddox vs. McNair
Rookie Ben vs. Brady
Ben vs. Pey Pey

 

89 loss to Denver was in the divisional round.

A good read and very informative. Still comes across as another unique way to take a dig at Tomlin.

 

Good catch, edited that.

Re: the dig, the record is what it is.

 

I’m not sure TOMLIN ever wins another playoff game to be honest

 

But he makes it so easy. Digging at Tomlin is like using a backhoe on the beach.

 

Tomlin is a good coach not a great coach. I think that's the best way to sum it up. It will be interesting to see if this year he loses his non losing season record. I like Tomlin but he's just not a great coach

 

Cowher didn't want or need a qb, Bledsoe really? Mcnair? He was just a Steeler killer nothing more.

 

Great post!


I read through and it brought up thought.


No accounting for firing / force retirement.
How many more years is Tomlin the head coach.


Please don't give me the "sooner rather than later" bs. That's not the point.

This is a hypothetical.

 

The number that jumped out to me is that the last 3 Steeler playoff games the defense has given up 129 points. That's an average of 43 points a game. That is embarrassingly horrible.

 

And exactly who is sure whoever will ever win a playoff game?

Whack

 

whomever is a tough one, when does it trump whoever?

 

Whenever

 

10 turnovers to 0. 2 of them for TD's. Makes it tough on the D.

 

Yeah the offense committing 10 turnovers in 3 games is bad but the D not even forcing one turnover over 12 quarters is unbelievable.
With the offense turning the ball over and the defense sleepwalking through these last 3 playoff games, maybe just maybe the team was poorly prepared entering these games.

 

The D that forced 0 turnovers can make it easier on themselves by, um, forcing turnovers.

 

Winner. You play how you prepare. They were flat as pancakes the last two playoff games.

 

Looking around the NFL though, how many can you consider great coaches? Most teams done even have a good coach.

Comparing the Cowher and Tomlin isn’t really apples to apples. The NFL is so different now compared to when Cowher was coaching.

 

Another Tomlin bashing thread dressed up in sheep's clothing! @SteelerGlenn!!! Glorious!!!


..... No seriously, @steel machine, I just might have to make Gary Andersons number my favorite number solely based on how many days until the start. I get that Tomlin has his short comings. That said, to compare different eras of coaching, different coaching styles no less, is silly.

 

You went through all this trouble with stats just to bash Tomlin , just because Ben is a franchise QB doesn't mean he has always played great in the playoffs .

 

Quite.

Revisiting playoffs can be good but like @Rel said, lots of differences. Think about how much easier it was to find 3-4 defense studs and n the draft in the late 90s/early 2000s. Think of the dominance of the Oilers and Browns in the 80s affecting the AFC central play off chances. Think of the dominance of the Pats in the 2010s. Think of the difference challenge and instant replay might have made in the 70s. Etc etc

 

Read my post.


Essentially all of what you said. If getting to the playoffs would be that simple, this "recipie" should be shared with the likes of the New York Jets. They could really use it.

 

I was caught between which post to quote, AQL, yours or SR6's!

 

Just another Mad Dog post reminding us how bad we suck.

 

Can AQL get you to do tricks, too, or do you just run when called?

 

"At least we're not the Jets" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement.