Steelers: Mike Tomlin misses top five in NFL head coach rankings
The Pittsbrugh Steelers have been a model of consistency since the 1970s, leading the charge for continuity and stability spanning five decades. A catalyst for their success has been the lack of change at the head coaching position, with only three men (Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Mike Tomlin) leading the team since 1969. So […]
The Pittsbrugh Steelers have been a model of consistency since the 1970s, leading the charge for continuity and stability spanning five decades.
A catalyst for their success has been the lack of change at the head coaching position, with only three men (Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Mike Tomlin) leading the team since 1969.
So while Mike Tomlin is largely viewed as an elite coach, and one of the two or three best in the league by nearly everyone, the latest rankings from NBC and Patrick Daugherty seem to differ.
Tomlin came in at sixth on "RotoPat's" list, behind:
- Andy Reid
- Bill Belichick
- Sean McVay
- John Harbaugh
- Kyle Shanahan
Now, all rankings, whether they be about coaches or your favorite fast food spot, usually include some sort of subjectivity, unless they use an algorithm to be completely unbiased.
That is obviously not the case here, with "RotoPat" explaining his reasoning as follows:
They keep upping the difficulty level on Mike Tomlin and he keeps finishing above .500. At or above .500 is somewhere Tomlin has been for all 16 of his Steelers seasons, said Daugherty. Maybe that sounds like we are setting the bar too low. After all, what does .500 really get you? Tomlin hasn't won a playoff game in six years. But that is the wrong way of looking at it. The higher your baseline is, the more likely it is to produce favored outcomes, and Tomlin's remains amongst the highest in football. This is a coach whose team started 2-6 with Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett last season and still finished at 9-8. That was one year after they made the playoffs with Ben Roethlisberger averaging 6.2 yards per attempt, and three years after they went 8-8 with Mason Rudolph and “Duck” Hodges. Tomlin has been on the job long enough that he has dealt with every conceivable issue. There have been bad defensive years. Bad offensive line years. The current bad quarterback years. Coordinator problems, Antonio Brown problems, etc. It hasn't fallen apart because no one holds together a roster like Tomlin. Maybe he will need another Roethlisberger to take it back to the next level. That it hasn't crumbled is a testament to elite coaching.
"RotoPat" makes valid points and he does view Tomlin as an elite coach, but I am hard-pressed to believe that Kyle Shanahan, a coach that has yet to win a Super Bowl, is a better coach than Mike Tomlin.
Play caller? Sure
Offensive schemer? No doubt.
But coaching has always been more than X's and O's. You're expected to be a football savant, the CEO, and have a degree in psychology to manage all the different personality types in the building.
Good luck finding a coach that fits that bill better than Tomlin.
