Steelers’ Tomlin needs to be fired
Let me say this as bluntly as I can, MIKE TOMLIN SUCKS and should have been fired following last seasons debacle that saw the Steelers total collapse to close out the regular season with four losses in their final six contests which effectively kept them home once again during the playoffs. And oh by the way, Pittsburgh has now missed the playoffs FOUR times during Mike Tomlin’s reign.
I keep hearing the argument, “Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season.” Really? Does that mean that his finishing with an 8-8 record (twice) should be considered a winning season?
And what the devil is going on with this latest scuttlebutt that Mike Tomlin should be in the running for coach of the year. You gotta be freaking kidding me right?
The Steelers are now 8-5 on the season and in their 8 wins have only defeated ONE TEAM with a current winning record (the Rams), the Steelers had the benefit of facing the Rams in Pittsburgh and got the ugly 17-12 win thanks to four Ram turnovers. (Let me repeat that, “four” Ram turnovers.) Yet they barely won, 17-12.
Pittsburgh’s eight wins this season thus far have come against teams with a combined win/loss record of 30-66-1. For those keeping count, these 8 teams Pittsburgh defeated have a current combined winning rate of 31.25%.
On the flipside of things, the Steelers five losses this season have came against the Patriots, Seattle, San Francisco, Baltimore and Cleveland. Setting Cleveland off to the side, what do the other four teams the Steelers lost to have in common?
They have winning records that’s what. The head coaches of these other teams (excluding Cleveland) are Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, Kyle Shanahan, and John Harbaugh. What these four coaches also have in common is the ability to come up with a game plan to win and once the action begins these four coaches have shown the ability to make in game adjustments. Mike Tomlin has clearly shown during his tenure that he lacks these abilities.
And oh, by the way, Mike Tomlin in head-to-head meetings versus the four teams named above (excluding Cleveland), has built a record of 11-21 since the start of the 2011 season. That’s a winning rate of 34.38%. In other words, when Mike Tomlin steps up in class against better coached teams, he has failed and has his arse handed to him time and time again.
The truth of the matter is that Mike Tomlin was handed the keys to a Super Bowl-winning team stocked with talent on both sides of the ball. He was given the keys to a Ferrarri and proceeded to drive the Ferrari like a 16-year-old kid in a beat-up Volkswagen Beetle fumbling to learn the controls.
And one final note, please don’t try to argue, “… but the Steelers lost Antonio and lost Bell, and Big Ben is out for the season..” Etc etc etc. That’s hog wash. You sleep in the bed you made. In Tomlin’s case he created the monster known as Antonio by catering to him and allowing him to do as he pleased.
Remember when you were a child in school, surely you had a teacher somewhere along the line that basically let the class do as they pleased while they sat back and read the newspaper. After awhile, the good kids that wanted to learn something in that class gave up trying, the marginal kids in that class were ruined from lack of direction, and the unruly ones ruled the day. Such is the case of Mike Tomlin’s class or lack thereof.
James Campbell
Dunbar