He hasn’t won a playoff game in a decade, but he hasn’t had a losing season in 18 years and counting as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He hasn’t won a division title in half a decade, but he continues to have his team in the playoff picture year after year.
For all the warts that Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has, which center on the lack of playoff success, he consistently has his team playing in meaningful, impactful games years after year. That has to matter at some point.
So, where does he rank among the league’s best coaches despite the lack of playoff success? Well, ESPN’s Mina Kimes and Kevin Clark debated that and came out on different ends of the spectrum during the latest episode of the “Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny.”
For Kimes, the lack of playoff success is a big deal, which has her dropping Tomlin to No. 8 in her rankings. But for Clark, the consistency in which Tomlin gets the most out of teams that don’t look all that good on paper is rather impressive, which has Clark keeping the Steelers at No. 5 in his rankings.
In particular, Kimes and Clark debated Tomlin against a guy like San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan.
“So first of all, Mike Tomlin, as we know, always gets results. And maybe it’s not the top level, maybe it’s not the [Kyle] Shanahan level of the Super Bowl the last few years, I understand that, but you’re always, you’re gonna win games you shouldn’t,” Clark said of why he still has Tomlin in his top five. “I think he has that skill. He is a much better at that than Kyle Shanahan is.”
That is a very fair take from Clark. With Tomlin, he knows how to muddy things up for his team, and drag opponents into the mud, especially when he’s at a disadvantage. At least, that’s the case in the regular season. The postseason is another matter altogether.
But in the regular season, the Steelers know how to win ugly games. It’s what they do more often than not. That’s a Tomlin signature, without a doubt.
Tomlin remains highly respected in the industry, and has done more with less, compared to other coaches who have had losing seasons with similar rosters.
For Kimes, though, it comes back to the playoff struggles, and what happens in the playoffs when his defenses fall apart, which is a direct reflection on Tomlin. Though Kimes is down on Tomlin, she still has him in her top 10.
“Mike Tomlin, we all know, has not had playoff success over the last few years. To me, his demotion is a reflection of that. But, I would add this. I think like we sometimes look at the Steelers and we think, well, it’s just the play at the quarterback position. They just have not gotten it right at the quarterback position,” Kimes said of Tomlin and why he fell in her rankings. “And that’s not Tomlin’s fault. Yeah, maybe he hung onto Matt Canada for too long and whatnot, but it’s not his fault that they haven’t found a quarterback.
“But honestly, like when you look at some of, like the last year’s playoff loss, it wasn’t just the quarterback position that caused them to flame out at the end, the defense laid a major egg as well, which is something we put more of his feet. So, I just feel like at a certain point you gotta punish the guy for not getting it done in the playoffs in recent years.”
That Kimes take is one many Steelers fans will undoubtedly agree with. Tomlin and the Steelers haven’t gotten it done in the playoffs since 2016, and with all the changes in roster construction and personnel, there’s one common denominator there with the Steelers and their lack of playoff success, and that is Tomlin.
While the quarterback position has remained a problem for the Steelers, and Tomlin has had major a hand in the roster construction, it’s not entirely his fault. But what can be laid at his feet is the defensive collapses in the playoffs from high-priced units.
Tomlin remains a great coach, but the ability to stand on his resume and argue in favor of him is becoming tougher and tougher to do the longer the playoff victory drought drags on.
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