(Photo: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
The Pittsburgh Steelers. The black and yellow. The “Steel Curtain”. Oftentimes, the word blue blood is brought up with sports teams and if I had to label the blue bloods in the NFL, the Steelers would be at the top of the list without question. With an ever-growing fanbase and how the fans pack the stadium for their road games, they are one of the more popular teams not just in the NFL, but in sports. Also, some legendary names have played for this franchise such as Lynn Swann, Mean Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw, Troy Polamalu, Jerome Bettis, and the greatest Steeler of all time, the late Franco Harris. As far as Head Coaches go, they’ve also had some good ones such as Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher. Add Mike Tomlin to that mix as well. He took the job in 2007 and is now the longest-tenured Head Coach in the league. Today, the Steelers announced they’ve extended their Head Coach to a contract extension. A three-year deal that will keep him in Pittsburgh until the 2027 season.
I still remember him being on Tony Dungy’s staff in Tampa Bay with the Buccaneers as their Defensive Backs’ Coach. While in Tampa, Mike learned the ins and outs of the Tampa 2 defense, a Coach Dungy staple. The Minnesota Vikings would go on to hire Mike in 2006 to be their next Defensive Coordinator. This was also the year when Bill Cowher stepped down as the Head Coach of the Steelers and in 2007, the franchise hired Tomlin. I’ve always held him in high regard as he is one of the three best Head Coaches in the league today. Paying attention to him for so long, I’ve always admired how he’s involved in every aspect of the football team whether it’s on the offensive side of the ball or to Special Teams. Anytime I’m asked about Mike, a leader of men is the first thing that comes to mind. He has the attention and respect of that entire locker room and when he speaks, you listen. Mike has a way of getting his players pumped up and ready to go whether it’s during a practice, a preseason game, a regular season game, or the playoffs. He’s always had that calm, laid-back, yet energetic demeanor about himself and stays that way throughout the game. Mike knows how to keep this team intact even when things appear to be rocky. I think of the 2019 season as a prime example. Ben Roethlisberger was out the remainder of that season with an elbow injury and still, he was able to keep the Steelers in playoff contention to the very end of the season though they didn’t make the postseason that year.
The record still stands today. In his 17 seasons as the Steelers Head Coach, Mike Tomlin has yet to clinch a losing season. They’ve either finished with a winning record or at .500. Ten playoff appearances, seven division titles, three AFC Championship games, two conference titles, and one Super Bowl title. To this day, he’s still the youngest coach in the league to win a Super Bowl at 36 years old. To this day, I always see people saying he needs to be fired which leads me to my next question, who are you going to find that’s better than he is?
