Mike Tomlin Enters Coach of the Year Race After Another Steelers Comeback Win | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
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Steelers coach Mike TomlinJoe Sargent/Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Steelers picked up their fifth win of the season by outlasting the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night. Yet again, it was an ugly game, and one that Pittsburgh easily could have lost.
The 2023 Steelers are built to win these kinds of games. Like Thursday night’s contest, this squad is flawed, and at times, less than pretty. It keeps finding ways to win, though, because Pittsburgh has something other teams don’t: head coach Mike Tomlin.
Here’s your obligatory mention of the fact that Pittsburgh has never experienced a losing season under Tomlin. Since the 51-year-old took over as head coach in 2007, the Steelers have finished .500 or better every season.
It’s a remarkable feat, almost as remarkable as the fact that Tomlin has never been named NFL Coach of the Year—not officially, anyway. Fans did vote Tomlin the 2008 Motorola Coach of the Year.
Tomlin won the Super Bowl in his second season, but he inherited a great team from Bill Cowher. He yielded consistent results, but he had a Hall of Fame quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger.
Tomlin has neither now, and games like Thursday’s show why this might finally be his year. This team has mastered the art of winning ugly, and Tomlin continues to adapt.
Matt Canada’s game plan for the passing game has been unoriginal, inconsistent and under fire dating back to last season. Quarterback Kenny Pickett has limited the offense with poor accuracy.
The ground game has been just as inconsistent, and Pittsburgh came into Thursday averaging just 3.4 yards per carry as a team.
Tomlin shook things up by starting rookie first-round pick Broderick Jones at right tackle and by pulling Canada from the coach’s box, allowing him to have more constant communication with the head coach and Pickett.
Mike Garafolo @MikeGarafolo
A tweak in the play-calling process for the <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Steelers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Steelers</a> tonight: Offensive coordinator Matt Canada will be on the sideline, sources say. He usually calls games from upstairs. Will now be in close proximity to Mike Tomlin and the players as he calls plays vs. the <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Titans?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Titans</a>.
Having Jones on the field seemed to spark the offensive line as a whole, and it opened holes and pushed defenders down the field.
The run game, which averaged 5.5 yards per carry, looked as good as it has all season. Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris both looked explosive, and they did it against a Titans front that came in allowing 3.8 yards per rush.
With Canada on the sideline, the offense seemed to find a better rhythm, even with several of Pickett’s passes falling off the mark.
After weeks of sluggish starts, the Steelers scored a touchdown on their opening drive. When they needed a score late in the fourth quarter, they got a go-ahead touchdown. Pittsburgh racked up 326 yards and reached 20 points for only the fourth time this season.
Was it a perfect performance? Absolutely not. The Steelers were outgained by rookie quarterback Will Levis and the Titans (340 yards), and it took a Kwon Alexander interception near the end zone with mere seconds remaining to seal the win.
This is how the Steelers win, though. Tomlin knows that his defense is the strength of his team. While looking to limit offensive mistakes and relying on a big late defensive play might not be a winning strategy for most franchises, it works for Pittsburgh.
It worked in Week 2, when T.J. Watt scored the winning touchdown by scooping an Alex Highsmith sack-fumble. It worked in Week 5, when the Steelers topped the Baltimore Ravens by scoring 10 fourth-quarter points off turnovers to go with a safety.
It worked on Thursday, when Alexander snuffed out Levis’ valiant comeback attempt. The Steelers now have four fourth-quarter comebacks.
Playing to his team strengths and limiting/adjusting team weakness has gotten Pittsburgh to 5-3, 2-0 in the brutal AFC North. Thanks to Tomlin, the Steelers have a great chance to make the playoffs, despite statistical anomalies like the one below:
Given the ups, downs and injuries the Steelers have experienced this season—Pat Freiermuth is on injured reserve, Cameron Heyward just came off it, and Cole Holcomb suffered what appeared to be a serious injury on Thursday—it’s hard not to consider Tomlin one of the Coach of the Year front-runners.
There are other candidates, to be sure.
Dan Campbell has the Detroit Lions—a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game since 1991—looking like perhaps the best team in the NFC. He’s probably the front-runner, given the dramatic turnaround he’s helped spark since taking over in 2021.
John Harbaugh has the Ravens at 6-2 and has done a masterful job of adjusting to new offensive coordinator Todd Monken and his new-look passing game. Nick Sirianni has led the Philadelphia Eagles to a league-best 7-1 record while adapting to new offensive and defensive coordinators.
Pete Carroll has a Seattle Seahawks team that barely reached the postseason in 2022 atop the NFC West. Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor could enter the mix if the Bengals continue surging and fully rebound from their early-season struggles—and Joe Burrow’s calf injury.
Mike McDaniel deserves praise for how dominant the Miami Dolphins offense has been. The Houston Texans’ DeMeco Ryans and New York Jets’ Robert Saleh must be considered as well.
But nobody is doing more with less than Tomlin. The Steelers have rarely looked like the best team on the field, and yet here they are, a game behind the Ravens in their division and owning the first head-to-head tiebreaker.
A lot has yet to unfold. Pittsburgh still has rematches with the Ravens and Cleveland Browns ahead, plus two games against Cincinnati. However, if the Steelers do manage to win the AFC North and host a playoff game with this flawed squad, Tomlin will garner the lion’s share of the credit.
If teams like the Lions, Ravens and Eagles slip at all, that could be enough to finally give Tomlin—one of the most consistent coaches of the modern era—the missing piece of his Hall of Fame resume.
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