Mike Tomlin despatched shockwaves via the NFL on Tuesday when he stepped away from the Pittsburgh Steelers. It ends his 19-year run with the franchise as head coach and places the Steelers ready the place they should rent simply their fourth head coach for the reason that 1969 season.
From a big-picture perspective, Tomlin’s run with the Steelers was an enormous success. However it was additionally time for each side to go in a special route.
Playoff dropping streak should not outweigh general success for Mike Tomlin
The newest factor we noticed from the Tomlin-era Steelers was a reasonably sustained run of mediocrity, which ended with one other thud on Monday night time in a 30-6 wild-card loss to the Houston Texans.
It prolonged the Steelers’ playoff dropping streak to 6 consecutive video games and leaves Tomlin and the franchise with no playoff win for the reason that 2016 season. That’s a very long time, and the longest playoff drought in Steelers franchise historical past.
Given the usual the Steelers have established for themselves for the reason that Nineteen Seventies, it was not adequate and an indication that issues had began to change into stale.
They settled into an space the place they have been a constantly above-average soccer crew however by no means adequate to take the subsequent step within the playoffs. Each season has seemed precisely the identical because the Steelers have rotated out quarterbacks, overhauled the roster and altered assistant coaches. They have been by no means a nasty crew. They have been constantly profitable 10 video games and making the playoffs. Then, they might get blown out within the playoffs.
Tomlin was the one fixed via all of that.
The failings additionally remained the identical, particularly an offense that appeared too conservative and overly simplistic and a quarterback state of affairs they may by no means get proper.
All of it made it time for a change. Now, change is coming.
However that doesn’t make his total tenure with the crew a failure and even disappointing. Objectively talking, it was an enormous success, particularly as he needed to tackle the seemingly not possible job of changing a Corridor-of-Fame coach in Invoice Cowher (who changed one other Corridor-of-Fame coach in Chuck Noll).
Given the usual set by Noll and Cowher, it might have been comprehensible if the Tomlin period didn’t match it. However he succeeded, and did so in an enormous method.
For the reason that begin of the 2007 season, Tomlin’s first with the crew, the Steelers’ 193 wins are the third-most within the NFL, trailing solely the New England Patriots (209) and Green Bay Packers (195). Additionally they appeared in three AFC Championship video games (2008, 2010 and 2015) and two Tremendous Bowls (2008 and 2010), profitable certainly one of them (2008). They’re additionally the one franchise that had zero dropping seasons over that stretch, whereas additionally ending with no less than 10 wins 11 totally different occasions. The checklist of franchises with extra success over that point interval might be counted on one hand whereas nonetheless having fingers left over on the finish.
That’s success. It might not have been as profitable because the Steelers wished on the finish, however it’s arduous to ask for extra from a franchise over 19 seasons.
