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I think you can still win with a defensive coach as long as you have a franchise QB and some receivers.

I don’t think you can without the QB, and you certainly won’t be able to sustain success long term.

A franchise QB would solve a lot of issues for the Steelers. I don’t think Ben was that after the injury so really the team hasn’t had one since 2017/18.

Im not making excuses for MT in saying that, but there is no doubt it makes things a lot harder

 

And they went to two Super Bowls with Ben, some of you fans act like just because they had Ben they were going to win a bunch of Super Bowls. You forget they had to deal with Brady/Manning in the AFC at the same time .

 

I honestly don’t think anyone can go into KC and beat them. SB may be a different story.

 

The Bengals with Burrow did it a few years ago.

 

You wrote Cowher's wins before Ben were not relevant because in today's game you need a franchise QB. Well Tomlin had a franchise QB for his entire playoff coaching career. So what's the excuse? Brady/Manning beating the Steelers is understandable. How about David Garrard, Blake Bortles, and Baker Mayfield?

 

I am not saying you don't need the QB. I agree with you 100%. Look at Shanahan and the 49'ers falling short. You hit a hard AFC/NFC Championship game ceiling if your QB is merely average to decent.

The issue for the Steelers is do you really want Mike Tomlin to develop your next rookie/ franchise QB taken in the draft?

If the Steelers somehow could pull a coup and get a QB like Joe Burrow in Free Agency for Mike Tomlin, sure, that improves our chances. I don't think Tomlin is good enough offensive mind or gameday coach to push a team with a Rookie QB or Average Veteran to a Superbowl.

We are fringe playoff team, more than I expected, but that is our ceiling right now. I think you need both the QB and system/scheme, which comes from the Head Coach, to win.

 

Lets not forget Tim Tebow also beat the Mike Tomlin coached Steelers in the playoffs. That game was unforgivable.

 

I feel like this is Buffalo's best shot.

 

Wow. How could I forget that one?

 

I agree with you both on that. This year is their best shot. If not this year for Buffalo, when will it happen? This will be very revealing about Sean McDermott for sure. I just don't think he is good enough to go into KC in the playoffs and win.

 

Allen is playing next level this season so maybe but tough to Beat Mahomes and Reid 2X

 

And if Buffalo comes up short of the big game does the HC get shown the door??

 

I think that is the killer for me. It's like Steeler fans are Charlie Brown, and Lucy pulls the ball away every year just before we are about to kick. That hope is always fools gold.

 

No. The difference is Buffalo fights. All those Buffalo loses to KC, and the Bills played their hearts out each time and fell short. Compare that to our last few playoff performances. The Steelers fared okay against the Bills last year, but the Chiefs and Browns games before that were miserable. I don't mind losing when the team leaves it all on the field. The last couple of games against the Chiefs looked like a clown show.

 

Bills fans are saying yes because it proves he will never get over the hump and you only have a Josh Allen window for so long. Sometimes hard decisions need to be made when you keep going in a loop.

 

Agree, fairness to Glenn has said he thinks Tomlin time is up and should be changed out.

 

Somewhere, SDOT is laughing

 

You simply can't discount the fact that most of those guys had been coached under Cowher and had achieved success and a Super Bowl win under Cowher. They had experience and especially SB experience when Tomlin took over. I'm not saying Tomlin didn't do anything with them, but c'mon, those guys had the experience needed to win that SB with Tomlin and that experience came before Tomlin was there.

 

Think of the Veteran Leadership he inherited. That would be absolutely huge for any new HC taking over. Since those players have retired what has he done? Answer: almost nothing when it comes to the playoffs.

 

I give Tomlin the credit he deserves for the Super Bowl years. But think of the staff he inherited. BA ended up being a Super Bowl winning coach in his own right and Dick Lebeau was still in his prime. I always give Tomlin props for being more aggressive than Cowher. He definitely played a part in the success, but he was given keys to a Cadillac for sure.

 

He has to get some level of credit obviously he was still the HC. I think it’s just telling since he has pretty much built his own team with coaches and players the results are night and day from those early years.

 

And Ben's playoff numbers under Tomlin are 26 TDs and 20 interceptions for context , Ben had 6 total turnovers in the losses to the Bortles and Mayfield.

 

We certainly couldn’t get the most out of Ben in the big games.