The plight of the defensive-minded head coach has been a tough one over the last decade or so. Offensive wunderkinds like Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay have made the motivational, defensive specialist head coach a dying breed. There are still a few hard-nosed guys out there getting it done, like Dan Campbell, Mike Vrabel, and Mike Tomlin — but Tomlin’s struggles on the all-important offensive side of the ball aren’t helping their case.
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Tomlin has famously, or perhaps at this point, infamously, never had a losing season. Since Ben Roethlisberger retired, the Steelers have gone 9-8, 10-7, and 10-7, losing two embarrassing Wild Card games. The defense, Tomlin’s domain, continues to be elite, but the offense has floundered. Over those three years, the Steelers ranked 27th in scoring and 24th in total yards. That’s simply not going to cut it.
And yet, Tomlin got another extension in Steel City, despite being unable to find what’s needed: the right QB-OC combo. These struggles on the offensive side—which have kept them from competing in the playoffs—have led many, including Colin Cowherd, to harshly question that extension.
On the Colin Cowherd Podcast, the outspoken analyst ranted about how the Steelers have been “incredibly delusional” during this recent stretch.
“[The Steelers] gave Tomlin an extension. They can’t figure out offense. It’s a seven-year run on bad quarterback and o-line play,” Cowherd said with firm conviction.
“The Pittsburgh Steelers situation, to me, I cannot believe Steelers fans, if you polled them, they get angry if you question where they are in the ecosystem of the NFL. If you took out the NFC, I don’t think they’re close to a Super Bowl team, not even close.”
It seems people look at this in one of two ways. Either A) it’s Super Bowl or bust, and if you’re not Super Bowl-ready, you need to blow it up. Or, B) winning games still matters even if you don’t win it all every year.
For people in the A) camp, unless you’re a fan of Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady, your team has been “failing” over the last seven years, just like the Steelers.
If you’re in the B) camp, you probably enjoy watching your team a lot more. If you can’t enjoy anything throughout the five-month NFL season unless you get to the end and win it all, that’s a pretty sad sports fan existence.
The Steelers have not won a playoff game since the 2017 postseason, the eighth-longest streak in the league. During that span, they have lost six playoff games, which ties a franchise record. There’s no doubt it’s been a frustrating run for Tomlin, but when you look at who has won the Super Bowl since this streak began, it becomes less egregious.
In the seven years since Pittsburgh won a playoff game, Tom Brady has won two Super Bowls, and Patrick Mahomes has won three. The only teams without Brady or Mahomes to win a Super Bowl were the Los Angeles Rams in 2021 and the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024, both of whom had insanely deep rosters.
The AFC has been especially dominated by a small group of QBs. Every AFC Championship has featured a combination of Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Joe Burrow since Mike Vrabel’s run to the 2019 game with the Tennessee Titans. Unless you have one of those so-called “Big Four” QBs, you’re basically outta luck in that conference.
Many teams that tanked for an elite QB prospect continue to struggle as well. Surely, Steelers fans prefer their current lot to that of the Jacksonville Jaguars (tanked for Trevor Lawrence), Arizona Cardinals (Kyler Murray and Josh Rosen), and Carolina Panthers (Bryce Young). Even highly drafted quality QBs like Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert haven’t won a playoff game yet.
There aren’t many coaches who command respect like Mike Tomlin, so extending him makes sense. He just needs to get lucky and hit on a quarterback and/or OC in the next couple of years.
