There’s a subset of Steelers followers who need to hearth Mike Tomlin at any time when the workforce loses two or three video games in a row. If that ever occurs, one other proprietor will park a limo exterior the Pittsburgh facility, put a giant bag of money within the again seat, and open the door.

Tomlin is, as 2023 approaches, our No. 2 coach within the NFL. If he was ever obtainable, he would immediately be employed by one other workforce. Some house owners who’re proud of their head coaches would at the least ponder the potential for upgrading to Tomlin, if Tomlin ever have been fired — or if he ever turns into a free agent.

Tomlin has a excessive diploma of respect and admiration amongst his friends. He is aware of the right way to inspire gamers, maybe not like anybody else within the sport. He will get the collective group to play higher than the person items would recommend they need to. And he constantly wins.

He additionally has a knack for maintaining potential downside gamers underneath management. As different coaches study when these gamers find yourself on their groups. (And it’s not simply Antonio Brown that falls into that class.)

Since taking the job in 2007, Tomlin has by no means had a single shedding season. It seemed as if it was going to occur final 12 months, after a 2-6 begin. Then got here a 7-2 end — and a sigh of reduction from the remainder of the AFC playoff area that the closing kick wasn’t sufficient to get a seat on the desk.

Tomlin has made probably the most of his seat on the desk. Hired 16 years in the past, after a report surfaced that Russ Grimm could be the inheritor to Bill Cowher, Tomlin received a Super Bowl in his second season and returned two years later. And whereas it has been 13 years and counting for the reason that Steelers have made it again to the championship spherical, Tomlin has finished all in his energy to get the workforce as shut as he can.

The Steelers are removed from being probably the most gifted workforce within the NFL. On paper, they face the very actual prospect of ending final within the AFC North for the primary time since 1988, when it was the AFC Central. Tomlin sometimes defies the on-paper evaluation of the state of affairs.

Think again a decade or so. How ceaselessly when a season approaches has the narrative been, “Watch out for the Steelers!”? They’ve been caught with the Patriots dominating the convention for years, and now it’s the Chiefs. Along the best way, the Bills and Bengals developed into high-end contenders. Other groups (Jets, Dolphins, Jaguars) are threatening to do the identical.

Some would dismiss Tomlin’s success by saying he benefited from a Hall of Fame quarterback. But whereas Ben Roethlisberger does certainly advantage a bronze bust, there’s a giant hole between Ben and Tom Brady. Roethlisberger had extra bodily expertise than Brady; Brady labored relentlessly to get probably the most out of what he had and to push his teammates to do the identical.

Disputed reviews emerged over time about Ben’s in-season work ethic, or lack thereof, with regards to finding out performs and movie. Roethlisberger made no try to cover his offseason habits; he informed Chris Simms 4 years in the past that he doesn’t throw a lot if in any respect in your complete offseason.

Then there’s the truth that Tomlin presided over the evolution of a surly younger quarterback who was disliked out and in of the constructing (as famous in Playmakers, one former teammate as soon as opined to me that Roethlisberger was a “turd”) into an elder statesman who managed to thrive lengthy sufficient to get many to neglect his four-game suspension in 2010 for off-field allegations of sexual misconduct.

Another dynamic applies to Tomlin. Unlike Bill Belichick and Andy Reid, Tomlin doesn’t run the present. By all appearances, Tomlin doesn’t even rent his assistant coaches. The Steelers use a broad consensus strategy to mainly all points, with nobody claiming credit score or ducking blame. Ultimately, proprietor Art Rooney II appears to have far more sway over the workforce than anybody realizes. Remember when Bruce Arians was compelled out as offensive coordinator and changed by Todd Haley? Some noticed Rooney’s fingerprints on the transfer, not Tomlin’s.

At his core, Tomlin is a soccer coach who performs the hand he’s dealt, each 12 months. From gamers to workers to offensive system to defensive system, Tomlin picks up the playing cards and figures out the right way to get probably the most out of them. And he does it higher than nearly each different coach within the NFL.