How many coaches in the NFL are better than Mike Tomlin?

But how many coaches have not won a playoff games in 8+ seasons? Inheriting Bill Cohwers team loaded with soon to be many HOF fame vets is the only reason he won a super bowl in his 2nd season as head coach.

Tomlin has under acheived over the years relative to his talents.

-JB

 

All the BeechNut gums

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ended in 2024

 

And going for it on 4th down against the Longhorns probably cost him a Natty.

 

My favorite was Teaberry gum made by the Clark Candy company in Pittsburgh.

 

It is hard to make a fair comparison to say which Coach is the best Coach. Certainly there are some cases where Coach X is easily seen to be better in every area than Coach Y. But, every coach is going to come with their own version of baggage. I would say that you have to consider respect, SB wins/appearances, playoff success, division wins, flexibility, innovation, coaching tree, tenure, making hard choices, game management, developing players, and more.

To me, Mike Tomlin is an above average coach because (and I hate saying this), he has never had a losing season. He has done this despite having seasons where his QB1 has been injured, all manner of other important players have been injured, having subpar players in important positions and still he manages to not see the team go to the basement. How many of you would like to play a musical chair of coaches in the search for the '1'? In the past 10 years, there are 14 teams with an overall losing record in the regular season with the Jets being the worst at 52/114 (.313). How would you like to be in that camp? The Steelers have the 3rd best record at 101/61/2 (.622). Only the Chiefs (.764) and Bills (.626) are better.

But, there is more than a win loss record to being a good coach. Here is what I think are the positives and negatives of Mike Tomlin as I see them from my outsider pov:

Positives:
Exceptionally well liked and respected by the players.
Somehow gets above .500 every year despite injuries, level of competition and any other bricks thrown in his path.
A lot of trips to the playoffs and a few SB trips.


Negatives:
Appears rigid in thinking. Lack of innovation.
Too many cutesy sayings that just talk in circles. (Big changes coming! followed by painting the benches a new shade of the same color).
Appears to have lax discipline on the team as evidenced by a lot of players over the years acting like spoiled kids (outsider perspective....maybe they are just that much of a problem child).
Failure to do much in the playoffs over a very long stretch of time.
Appears to hire sub standard coaches as evinced by the lack of a coaching tree despite a very long tenure as HC.
Poor game prep.
Plays down to inferior opponents.
Overly focused on having a quality defense. Too much money spent here to always be good but never the best, and it is done at the expense of the offense IMO.

Coaches that I think are overall better: Andy Reid, Kyle Shanahan, DeMeco Ryans, Nick Sirianni, Matt LeFleur, Sean McVay

 

This is by far my biggest issue with Tomlin

I agree that his floor is likely the highest in the NFL but the lack of innovation by him is a major issue

 

Tomlin’s pic is actually funny, he may be doing it on purpose. The rest look like two-faced assholes, except for Reid who just looks like a regular garden variety SOB

 

People still seem to be evaluating Tomlin based on stuff he achieved over 14 years ago

 

Sooooo in your opinion Dan Campbell isn’t as good as Tomlin. Your reasoning is Tomlin has a ring (which he used the same players and coaches that were already in place prior to him arriving. Campbell took a team that was terrible before he arrived and they are now one of 5 teams expected to reach the superbowl (plus his coordinators are highly sought after). The way you are measuring a coach is flawed. Around 2010 the Steelers had played in 1/3 of all championship games. The last 14 years they appeared in one. Tomlin is destroying the Steelers. Campbell is building a franchise that people are proud of.

 

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