There is no more polarizing NFL head coach than the Pittsburgh Steelers own Mike Tomlin. The fanbase is divided right down the middle between whether or not Tomlin is a Hall of Fame coach or if he should be fired immediately. There’s very little middle ground to be had.
This uncertainty and division are why it is so difficult to evaluate any coordinators Tomlin has had over the year. How much of it is Tomlin and how much of it is them? The Steelers’ current offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is supposed to be bringing the Steelers offense into a new age but if it doesn’t happen, some will argue it’s only Tomlin.
ESPN ranked every NFL coaching staff based on its head coach and top coordinators and while they have the Steelers ranked No. 7 in the league, author Ben Solak admits ranking the Steelers was his most difficult task.
Here is a bit of what he said about Tomlin and we couldn’t agree more.
Without question, this is the most difficult team to place. I am positive Tomlin is a good head coach. Nobody in the league squeezes more blood from tougher stones than Tomlin, who has somehow not had a losing season during the worst quarterback carousel I can ever remember: late-career chuck-and-duck Ben Roethlisberger, backups Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges splitting time and resounding first-round bust Kenny Pickett spelled by Mitchell Trubisky. Much Tomlin criticism is just incognito praise. Yes, the Steelers have lost their past five playoff games (bad), but the fact they’ve made it to the playoffs with these preposterously bad offenses is a testament to Tomlin (good).
Tomlin is definitely an enigma. The lack of playoff success keeps him out of that upper tier of head coaches but his regular-season success keeps him well ahead of most of the league.
