CBS NFL reporter Jason La Canfora said Monday morning that he thinks Mike Tomlin is definitely a worthy NFL Coach of the Year candidate and would be justified in winning it.
La Canfora isn't the first, third or even 10th football analyst, media member or observer I have heard make this claim over the last week or so. I have heard it from national guys on the hot-take shows. I've heard it from the guys doing the games. I've heard it even from some local media members.
And every time I hear it, I get dumber — and lord knows I can't afford to get dumber. Tomlin as coach of the year in a year when his team didn't make the playoffs?
You have got to be kidding me with these takes, right? You can't be serious with them and if you are serious, I fear you are beyond help.
Tomlin is a wonderful coach and he did an excellent job of guiding the rebuilding Steelers to a winning record. He kept a team together when there was no hope. He oversaw the development of young players. He watched how his young team won games in dramatic fashion. And clearly he and his staff deserve a tip of the cap for a job well done.
That includes Matt Canada, who brought a young offense along and helped a first-round pick quarterback go from a raw rookie to a player that looks like he is going to be really good for a really long time. Canada isn't perfect, but he did a good job building and developing a young offense.
The same can be said for Teryl Austin, whose defense was one of the best in the NFL by the end of the season after some early-season hiccups.
Any discussions about the Steelers moving on from Tomlin are silly, too, as he is one of the best coaches in the NFL. His players love him, play hard for him and he is well respected all across the NFL. There is absolutely no rationale argument to be made that he shouldn't continue to be the Steelers coach as this new era after Ben Roethlisberger begins.
That, however, is a totally different argument than saying he should be the coach of the year.
First off, I would say coaching incompetence cost the Steelers both the Jets game and the first Ravens game, and he wasn't exactly brilliant in a loss against the Dolphins, either. Any of those three games go the other way, and the Steelers, not the Dolphins, would be playing the Bills next Sunday in the wild card round. So let's not forget that part of it.
I have a really hard time giving coach of the year to someone whose team didn't make the playoffs because that is the goal of every team. Also, teams that miss the playoffs are by definition mediocre or worse, so why would we reward the coach of those teams?
Pete Carroll had what some thought was one of the worst rosters in the NFL. He was going to be fired at the end of this year because his roster was so bad and so full of holes and he had Geno Smith as his quarterback. The Seahawks made the playoffs, were one of the best stories in football and Smith is being mentioned in MVP talks.
Did Tomlin do a better job than Carroll? The answer is no.
Doug Pederson inherited a total dumpster fire of a team coming off a disaster of a season with the Urban Meyer debacle. He started of 2-6, but the Jaguars went 7-2 down the stretch to finish 9-8 and win the AFC South. He added stability to a franchise that has been in disarray in recent years and even coached Trevor Lawrence from "perhaps bust" to "franchise quarterback" status, and they will host the Chargers in the playoffs.
Did Tomlin do better job than Pederson? The answer is no.
Kyle Shanahan had three different quarterbacks, played the final third of the season with a seventh-round pick rookie at the position, went 13-4 and some think the 49ers might be the favorite to win the Super Bowl.
Brian Daboll took a team that won four games last year and with Daniel Jones at quarterback in the toughest division in the NFL and won nine games and got to a wild card spot. And if we are going to go outside the teams that made the playoffs, explain to me how Tomlin did a better job than Dan Campbell.
There are five names right there of coaches who did a better, more remarkable, more admirable, more incredible — however you want to label it — job than Tomlin did this year.
You want to tell me Tomlin did a good job this year? I would 100% agree. You want to tell me he is an excellent coach and the Steelers are lucky to have him? I would 100% agree, though, I would say that the Steelers' organization is so good, so strong and so stable that he is also lucky to have them.
Tomlin and his staff deserve praise for the job that they did this year. But spare me the hyperbole, as if what he did was more remarkable than a handful of other coaches who genuinely deserve coach of the year consideration.
