Steelers Now
By deciding to give up his position as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ head coach, Mike Tomlin leaves behind a complicated legacy. The now-former longtime leader of the black and gold never turned in a losing season, but couldn’t find his footing in the playoffs over the past nine years.
Mainly because of the latter fact, former NFL cornerback Aqib Talib, a first-team Associated Press All-Pro with the Denver Broncos in 2016, doesn’t believe Tomlin should have his face carved into the Mount Rushmore of the league’s most revered head coaches.
“He’s one of the best of his era, for sure, but all-time great? You can’t put him in that boat, man,” Talib said Tuesday on Underdog’s “The Arena: Gridiron.” “You only got one chip. Head coaches, y’all’s stats is chips. Y’all don’t run the ball, y’all don’t throw the ball, y’all don’t catch the ball, y’all don’t get picks, y’all don’t block, y’all don’t do shit. Y’all don’t tackle.
“Your only stat is chips. So if your name ain’t Chuck Noll, Andy Reid, fucking Bill Belichick, goddamn Joe Gibbs or Bill Walsh, then you’re not an all-time great. … If you ain’t got three at least, you ain’t an all-time great.”
Former NFL defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, a first-team AP All-Pro with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2013, agreed with Talib.
”It’s just too many letdowns,” McCoy said. “Too many letdowns. Too many times where he’s right there and it just ain’t happening.”
McCoy did acknowledge that it’s hard to have sustained success in the NFL. Talib was having none of it.
“We’re lowering the bar,” Talib said. “We don’t play to not have a losing season. Is (there) a trophy for not having a losing season? Where’s the trophy for that shit at?”
Tomlin finished his Steelers tenure with a 193-114-2 regular-season record. He went 8-12 in the postseason, but reached two Super Bowls and won one.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Former All-Pros Rip Mike Tomlin: ‘Not an All-Time Great’
