Mike Tomlin has been the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers for 17 years, and after
last Monday’s 31-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills, many in the city, including myself, were hoping Tomlin would step away from the team.

It has been seven years since Tomlin has led the Steelers to a playoff victory, an 18-16 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2016 AFC Divisional Round–a game in which the Steelers did not score a touchdown and Chris Boswell saved the day with six field goals.

That moved the Steelers into the AFC Championship against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, who jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back.

This started a familiar playoff streak for Tomlin and the Steelers, finding themselves down big early in the game and not being able to dig themselves out of that hole.

Since that AFC Championship game against the Patriots, Mike Tomlin and the Steelers have found themselves in five playoff games, where they have gone 0-5 and really have not had a chance of winning any.

In those games, the Steelers were down in the first quarter: 10-0, 14-0, 28-0, 0-0, 14-0.

That is a 66-0 point differential in the first quarter of the biggest games of the year.

And in that 0-0 game, the Steelers were down 21-7 at halftime to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

In those five playoff games, they have lost two of those games to Blake Bortles and Baker Mayfield–not to mention, a playoff loss in 2011 to Tim Tebow.

That is totally unacceptable, and for a city outside of Pittsburgh, a place where the head coaching job is the most stable job in the city, that coach would be gone.

Photo by Brook Ward – Mike Tomlin on the sidelines at Heinz Field – August 25, 2018

Another alarming playoff stat for Mike Tomlin is that in his 17 years as head coach, he has only won a playoff game in four of those seasons.

Yes, Tomlin has won a Super Bowl and gone to another, but that last Super Bowl appearance came in the 2010 season, almost 14 years ago.

The common narrative that is always attached to Mike Tomlin is that he has never had a losing season, and for people in the national media, this is the only stat they can back Tomlin with.

But people in and around the city understand that stat is the most useless metric in terms of judging Tomlin.

His teams are never good enough to win the last game of the season but also never bad enough to fully rebuild and get top-tier talent through the draft.

Another common defense for Tomlin lovers: Who are you going to replace Tomlin with who is better than him?

There are countless coaches every offseason who come along and could do a better job than Tomlin.

When you have allegiance to one head coach, you miss out on hiring truly
exceptional head coaches like Kyle Shanahan, Mike McDaniel, Shane Steichen, etc.

A new message needs to echo through the locker room.

Tomlin’s message has become so stale and so overused that I have listened to press conferences and been able to tell you the exact “Tomlinism” he is going to use.

In fact, you can predict almost the entire season.

As many in the city predicted, this team would be right around .500, limp into the playoffs and get boat raced in the Wild Card, which is exactly what happened.

Again, any other team in the NFL would likely have fired their head coach after so many years with nothing to show for it, but for some reason, the Steelers and the Rooney family put stability over winning.

Mike Tomlin has never really been on the hot seat; his job seems to always be there waiting for him the next season.

This stability has made Mike Tomlin comfortable, and a coach who is never threatened by the idea of losing his job makes it unlikely for him to change his ways and try new things.

Tomlin and the Steelers have become a mid organization, from the top down.

Everyone is unwilling to change their ways because a tank season would lose the organization money.

Art II is nothing like his old man–he is a spineless owner who does not seem to care about the city of Pittsburgh and the fans of the team.

If he did, he would intervene when Tomlin plays players when they act like children, e.g. George Pickens and Antonio Brown.

He would intervene when Tomlin shows allegiance to coaches and players who stink, e.g. Matt Canada, Randy Fichtner, Presley Harvin, the list goes on.

Tomlin so rarely hires any coaches outside of the organization because he wants every decision to be his scheme and his personnel.

For example, former coordinators Keith Butler, Matt Canada and Randy Fichtner were all in-house hires, as well as current defensive coordinator Teryl Austin.

Tomlin is supposed to be a defensive guru, and this past year, during which his defense was the second-highest paid in the league, they ranked 21st in the league in total defense.

Yes, there were a lot of injuries this year as it pertains to the defense, but I thought that the standard was the standard.

Next man up mentality.

What a bunch of crap.

And if it was not for the countless All-Pro and possible future Hall of Fame talent that Tomlin inherited, his already mediocre 8-10 playoff record would likely be much worse.

Former Steelers starting quarterback and future Hall of Famer Ben Roethlisberger said on Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, his podcast, “Maybe the tradition of the Pittsburgh Steelers is done. Maybe it needs to be formed a new kind of way. I don’t know.”

Photo by Jeff Bryk – Mike Tomlin (left) and Ben Roethlisberger share the field at training camp – August 23, 2012

It used to mean something to play for the Steelers.

Seasons where the team was above .500 and did not win a Super Bowl were
never celebrated.

When did the Steelers become an organization that was not Super Bowl or bust?

It seemed to happen sometime between now and the last snap of Super Bowl
XLV, the last time the Steelers sniffed a ring.

My family has had season tickets for the Steelers since the 1970 season and I have been too close to 100 games.

I have never been more worried about the future of this team.

If Mike Tomlin comes back and works till the end of his contract in 2025, the Steelers will likely be average again next season.

And if the Steelers sign Tomlin to another long-term deal, the Steelers will likely be average for years to come.

The biggest question I have for Steelers fans who back Tomlin, for whatever reason, is this: How does this end?

What will it take for you to wake up and realize that Tomlin is an average head coach who is the definition of mid?

Please let me know.

Tomlin being relieved of his job as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers is long
overdue.

But he will never be fired, so it is up to Tomlin to wake up and realize that he is hurting this team and organization.

As a lifelong fan of this team, it is time.