Pittsburgh Steelers: Mike Tomlin Legacy Is Failing to Build One
By Erik Lambert
What is Mike Tomlin known best for? That’s a question Pittsburgh Steelers fans are asking more and more these days about their embattled head coach.
To them it’s mostly disappointment and unfulfilled expectations. Pittsburgh went 13-3 in the regular season, matching the second-best record in franchise history. Yet nobody felt all that good about it. Every time they seemed to go up against an opponent that was on their level in terms of talent, they were defeated. It was the New England Patriots and then it was the Jacksonville Jaguars. Both of those teams are now responsible for knocking them from the playoffs the past two years.
The 45-42 defeat at the hands of Jacksonville may be the most devastating to date for Tomlin. Expectations were nothing less than the Super Bowl this season. Pittsburgh had a top 10 offense in place and some quality off-season moves led to them posting a top 10 defense as well. They were a well-rounded club with loads of playoff experience. It should’ve been their year. Instead they fell to a team that hadn’t made the postseason for a decade. What’s worse is they have nobody to blame but themselves.
Two years in a row, Steelers embarrass themselves in the postseason. Looked clueless last year against the Patriots, and totally sloppy and unprepared vs. the Jaguars
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) January 16, 2018
Tomlin’s biggest achievement came on coattails of another
In the end this is another reminder of an inescapable truth for Tomlin. He’s become another in a long line of good coaches who benefited from following a great one. In 2007 he took over a Steelers roster that had been painstakingly constructed by former head coach Bill Cowher. A year later in 2008 that core would lead the way to a sixth Super Bowl championship. To that point the only major contributors on the roster drafted and developed by Tomlin was Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley.
The rest were Cowher guys. As the years progressed and more Tomlin guys began to inhabit the roster, the Steelers aura began to fade. They lost the Super Bowl to Green Bay in 2010. Since then the closest they’ve gotten is getting blown out by the Patriots in the AFC championship. Tomlin’s coaching has been at the forefront of their most recent playoff defeats. With each crushing loss his luster is diminished that much more, leading some to wonder if he basically just handheld the organization to a Lombardi trophy like Barry Switzer did for the Cowboys in 1995.
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The longer this goes on, the more that appears to be true. If he’s not careful he won’t survive long enough to change that script.