Steelers

[3pirates3]

Steeler Punter is done for the season

https://www.steelers.com/news/steelers-sign-waitman

[Wildwoodcoach]

Fields has been named the starting QB for this weeks game at Denver

[Wildwoodcoach]

How bout those Steelers!! 3-0. Beat a good Charger team today

[Wildwoodcoach]

Big win over Baltimore yesterday to go to 8-2
Where are all the Tomlin bashers now?

[Wildwoodcoach]

Steelers lose to the Browns in the Snow Bowl. Steelers are now 8-3

[Wildwoodcoach]

Steelers were completely outplayed by the Eagles yesterday. I
am sure Javy enjoyed it. He was at the game. Steelers are now 10-4

[Bobster]

Steelers were completely outplayed by the Eagles yesterday. I
am sure Javy enjoyed it. He was at the game. Steelers are now 10-4

Steelers were completely outplayed by the Ravens.

Steelers were completely outplayed by the Chiefs.

Tomlin is being widely criticized by the fan base but as Paul Ziese wrote in the PPG, Rooney won't even consider parting with him. Tomlin is not an Xs and Os coach. He's not looking at plays or charts on the sideline. We see him on Hard Knocks constantly encouraging his players. We don't see him talking about schemes, patterns or plays. When asked by the media about the team playing poorly, his answer is aways something to the effect of "We have to play better." There have been numerous times throughout the years when he vowed changes would be made but the result rarely changed. The classic example of that was his "unleash hell" comment. He never seems to know how to make improvements when schemes don't work. He just says they have to play better (at what isn't working).

No playoff wins in the past 7 years. Playoff wins in only 2 of the past 13 years. But Tomlin is untouchable. His claim to fame is never having a losing season. But that was made possible by beginning his HC career in a unique situation. Most teams give a first time HC his opportunity when they are a bad team and fired their previous coach. Tomlin inherited a team that won the Super Bowl 2 years earlier because its HC retired. He didn't have to rebuild a bad team. That team won the Super Bowl in his 2nd season (making it 2 in 4 years) and went back but lost 2 seasons after that (their 3rd Super Bowl in 6 years). That was 2010. Since then, they won 1 playoff game in 2015 and 2 in 2016. Nothing since. Drafting leaves much to be desired. Team discipline is poor. Effort is even questionable. Last year Dionte Johnson chose not to go after a loose ball and Pickens chose not to block at the goal line, citing fear of getting hurt. This year Pickens quits on his routes.

But apparently Rooney doesn't like the optics of firing Tomlin after Noll and Cowher coached until they retired. But not only are championships no longer a realistic expectation, even winning a single playoff game seems too much to ask. But Tomlin remains untouchable. Criticism of him usually results in some form of racism accusation. And negative comments are usually couched in "I like him but" or "He's a good coach but..." as if any specific criticism must be accompanied by some form of vague praise.

This is Tomlin's 18th season as HC. He's had more than enough time to return to the success he had in his first few years. But for the majority of his HC career, the Steelers have been mired in mediocrity. Good enough not to lose more than they win but not good enough to be a threat to the top teams. This season offers no hope of change. Unless they change the HC. And that won't happen no matter what.