When the Pittsburgh Steelers hired Mike Tomlin in 2007, they were hoping to get a coach that could lead his team to multiple Super Bowls and provide a lasting legacy for the next 15-20 years. After all, Tomlin’s predecessors, Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher, lasted for a combined 38 years on the Steelers sideline.
As far as numbers go, Tomlin is looking pretty good. He’s already won a Super Bowl, accomplishing the feat in just his second year as head coach. Furthermore, his team has finished 12-4 three times in his first six seasons. By comparison, Chuck Noll needed six years to finish with 12 regular season wins while Bill Cowher’s teams only won 12+ regular season games three times in fifteen years.
To be fair, Mike Tomlin inherited a much better team than both Noll and Cowher when they started coaching. Noll was assigned to a franchise of perennial losers before he built them into an NFL dynasty. Bill Cowher took over for Noll when it was clear that the legendary, four-time Super Bowl champion no longer provided an audible message to his players.
Noll and Cowher built up the Super Bowl champions. Mike Tomlin inherited a legendary defense with an elite quarterback, all of whom were just entering their prime. That’s not to take anything away from the job Mike Tomlin has done with those players. Again, he’s won a Super Bowl, led his team to two Super Bowls, and produced three AFC North Division titles.
However, as players from the Bill Cowher era retire, Tomlin is having a tough time keeping up. His draft picks, short of Lawrence Timmons and Maurkice Pouncey, have a lot of question marks. When Lamarr Woodley first entered the league, he was a dominating pass rusher and overall playmaker. Injuries over the last two seasons have plagued Woodley, rendering him ineffective. Rashard Mendenhall and Ziggy Hood can be labeled first round busts given their lack of consistent quality performances.
Then there’s Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders, Antonio Brown, Marcus Gilbert, Keenan Lewis, and Cameron Heyward; players that have shown promise in their early careers (albeit inconsistently) but are still too young to be considered good or bad picks. At any rate, with the way the Steelers have drafted over the last six seasons, there is growing concern that the team is on their way towards some dark times.
And to make matters worse, the owner may not have a lot of faith in his head coach’s ability to turn things around.
Consider how offensive coordinator Todd Haley even got the job in Pittsburgh. The Rooneys plainly suggested to Tomlin two years ago that they needed to run the ball more. After the team finished 14th in total rushing last season, the Steelers fired OC Bruce Arians; or should I say, he “retired”, only to become the OC and interim head coach for the Indianapolis Colts the following year.
Tomlin wanted Arians to stay in Pittsburgh, but the owner forced him out. The talk of retirement for Arians was completely fabricated as he denied the rumor. After a not-so-extensive search, the Steelers landed Todd Haley. Since then, the team has had ups and downs on offense (not so different from Arians) while the team chemistry seems to be slightly tense. The quarterback is questioning the play call, giving the media more ammunition to criticize the coach.
This never happened under Noll or Cowher. Both coaches were given the keys to the mansion, even if that mansion was decrepit when they got there.
Since Kevin Colbert drafts the players, Todd Haley runs the offense, and Dick Lebeau runs the defense, what is left for Tomlin? His role as a manager instead of a team builder (Cowher, Noll) limits his decision making, even when it comes to hiring assistant coaches and coordinators. Do the Rooneys trust Mike Tomlin to make the right decisions, or is he merely a figurehead as a young, energetic coach presiding over the sideline of one of the most prestigious teams in the league?
The football world will find out soon enough. The Steelers don’t fire head coaches. Not even when they produce three consecutive poor seasons seasons (Cowher 1998-2000). Will that change when James Harrison, Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor, Ryan Clark, Casey Hampton, Larry Foote, and Brett Keisel retire within the next three years? Or is it simply too early to start thinking about this on the assumption that the team will find players and bounce back as they have in the past? If you trust Mike Tomlin to keep the winning tradition going, you may have more faith than his boss.
Photo courtesy of Steel Yankee
