Steel City Blitz
If you’ve followed sports long enough during your lifetime then you know that there comes a point when every coach reaches the end. The message gets old or the success just isn’t what it was expected to be. Mike Tomlin enters his 19th season in charge of the Pittsburgh Steelers. This makes him the longest tenured coach with the same team in the entire NFL. Most coaches who reach this point do so by winning championships or at the very least are competing for them on a yearly basis.
One would think that after almost a decade without winning a postseason game, that a coach would be on some sort of “hot seat” with his organization. This is not true in Pittsburgh. In fact, Tomlin’s seat isn’t even lukewarm. Why? Some fans say it’s his style and demeanor while others point to “never having a losing season.” That’s something by the way, that he hates discussing. In fact, no one discusses it less than he does.
Tomlin’s 19th season comes off of yet another playoff berth… and playoff loss. That’s five straight postseason losses if you’re keeping track and none of them were particularly close. Mixed in that decade were more so-so seasons of winning games they shouldn’t have and losing games they shouldn’t have either. So now here we are. 15 years after the Steelers’ last Super Bowl appearance, Tomlin has pushed his cards into the center of the table riding with the very guy that beat him in that Super Bowl.
There isn’t a single one of us that knows what Aaron Rodgers has left in the tank. We haven’t seen him in anything more than controlled scrimmages against his own defense. Does it really matter though? Does it really matter what Rodgers does? I say this because Tomlin is playing with house money. The Steelers could go 0-17 this year and his seat wouldn’t even have the heat taken off of it. That’s the kind of support and backing he has and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. We should all strive to have that kind of confidence shown in us by our bosses but then again maybe that’s the issue.
Historians claim that when Cortez reached the new world, he burned his ships. He did this to motivate his men into building something new and glorious. Mike Tomlin seems like a guy who is still motivated and willing to do what it takes to win in the postseason again. But when there’s no fear of losing your job how much motivation can there be?
The post Tomlin Enters His 19th Season as Safely as Any Other appeared first on Steel City Blitz.
