You know what they say: “Don’t make a decision about something when you’re emotional.”
As a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I was pretty emotional after their quick ousting from the 2017/18 NFL playoffs at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars on January 14 at Heinz Field.
“Why weren’t they prepared?” like many other fans, I asked rather angrily. Furthermore, we had a right to be angry.
And, of course, the wave of negative news that quickly surfaced in the days after the Steelers season came to a crashing halt, such as star running back Le’Veon Bell arriving with about five minutes (or perhaps more, depending on who you believe) left in the walk-through practice the Saturday before the playoff loss, just seemed like one straw too many.
Yes, for a brief moment, I thought about the possibility of the Steelers moving on from long-time head coach Mike Tomlin and taking things in a whole new direction.
But while I thought about it, I never actually allowed those words to leave me lips. For one thing, it’s just ludicrous, right? Why part ways with a head coach who has accomplished as much as Mike Tomlin has during his 11-year tenure with the Steelers organization?
We’re talking about a man with a 116-60 career record, eight playoff appearances, six division titles, two trips to the Super Bowl and one Lombardi trophy in Super Bowl XLIII.
That’s only one win less than Don Shula in the same time span, the winningest coach in NFL history.
Anyway, here we are three weeks later, and after taking some time to reflect–and discovering that perhaps, as he told reporters recently, Bell had a personal reason for missing that final practice and was given permission by his head coach–I realize that maybe things aren’t always as they appear–or as they’re reported.
Obviously, someone had an ax to grind with Mike Tomlin–perhaps now ex-offensive coordinator Todd Haley–and wanted to make him look bad.
But that’s neither here nor there, because, even without the leaked story about Bell missing practice, there are those who will never give Mike Tomlin his due and will continue to scream for his dismissal as head man on the Steelers sidelines.
Part of me can’t figure out why, but then, Mike Tomlin is the first Steelers coach of the social media era. And, as you probably know, there is rarely anything logical or rational about most takes on Facebook or Twitter.
Yes, whereas in the late-90’s, when only a select few fans could call into sports talk radio every night and tell the hosts what they thought of Bill Cowher‘s coaching acumen (or lack thereof), today, every Tom, Dick and Harriet from all over the globe can take to the world wide web and use all capital letters to tell you how much they hate Tomlin’s clock-management skills.
And they’re not all irrational either. There are some logical fans, albeit fans with an agenda against Mike Tomlin, who can come up with some darn good reasons why the Steelers should find a new head coach.
But the good news is, regardless of the illogical or even sane negative takes on Mike Tomlin, Mr. Obvious obviously being obvious, the Steelers won’t be in the market for a new head coach anytime soon.
For starters, it just goes against reason and logic to suggest the Steelers, a team that has played exactly one game under Mike Tomlin where it was already out of playoff contention at kickoff, are in total disarray, as has been suggested time and time again, by both the media and fans, alike.
In a classic case of giving the players all the credit and the coach none, Mike Tomlin’s critics state–and with a straight face, mind you–that Pittsburgh has only been as successful as it has over the years because it boasts a superbly-talented roster that includes a franchise quarterback in one Ben Roethlisberger and numerous All-Pros.
