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

Beg to differ. Tomlin has changed his approach the last few seasons. Completely redid the ILBs a couple season ago (including coach). Completely redid the secondary (including coach). Has churned the QB position since Roethlisberger's retirement.

 

FWIW, I think the main reason Tomlin doesn't have much of a coaching tree is that we tend to hire older coordinators.

Which is kind of interesting because the team has also preferred hiring unknown HCs (although the sample size is only 2 people since Noll).

 

It hasn't worked. The results speak for themselves. Steelers defense is ranked near the bottom with Cowboys and Bengals.

Cowher got a playoff win with Maddox. Popcorn hasn't done squat in 8 years.

 

Sure. You can argue the results but you can't say he doesn't make changes.

 

Goes hand in hand with my comment that he doesn't like to spend a lot of time with coordinators. He's not a coach of coaches. So at least he understands that part of himself.

 

I was saying that last year. They had a pretty nice schedule. They played 10 games against teams that ended with a losing record and won all of those games. They played 8 games vs teams with a winning end of season winning record (including playoffs) and went 4-4. They beat the easy teams and split games with other decent teams. I remember looking at their schedule and realizing that they had not really played anyone decent when they were doing all of that winning.

 

Kraft frequented the place that made this place put up the sign

 

And the QBs we ran with last season have both been benched this year. Although it's not clear if Fields will still be the starter.

Their combined record this season is 0-9. We finished 10-7 last year with the same QBs.

If Tomlin and Reid switched places, I don't think Tomlin would have the same success Reid has had since they drafted Mahomes. What KC has done since drafting Mahomes is incredible.

And I also think Reid would not have done as Tomlin has done with the teams we've had since Ben got hurt. We haven't been all that good since then (certainly not when compared with KC). But it's pretty crazy that we haven't had any meaningless games re: making the playoffs despite the motley group of QBs we've played since 2019: Mason/Duck/Mason, old-man Ben, Mitch/Kenny, Kenny/Mitch/Mason, Fields/Russ.

I think that Reid is a better "high ceiling" HC. And that Tomlin is a better "high floor" HC.

I think most teams would rather have the high ceiling guy. But the Steelers have a different business model than most teams I think.

But the Steelers are different than many owners in that the Steelers is their primary business. What they want is to be competitive for a playoff berth every season (ideally every game).

Last year, I think I heard that Tomlin has only had a handful of games since he was hired where we were eliminated from playoff contention before the start of the week. IMO this is a perfect fit for the Steelers business model.

Always be competitive for a playoff spot. Make the playoffs as many times as you can. Hope to catch lightning in a bottle (i.e., buy enough lottery tickets and you'll win eventually).

I get that it's frustrating now. Just like it was frustrating losing all those home playoff games under Cowher (imagine how much hate he'd get with today's internet!). But we're in the "tread water while we wait to find the next good/great QB" mode right now.

Part of me thinks we should tank (or at least focus more on developing young players). But that's just not the business model of this team.

 

I agree with that