By John Steigerwald
https://triblive.com/sports/steelers/14476789-74/john-steigerwald-time-for-mike-tomlin-to-walk-away-as-steelers-coach
January 6, 2019
You’d have to be pretty old or dead to remember the last time the Steelers fired a head coach.
Everybody knows the Steelers like to hold on to their head coaches, and they’ve only had three in the last 50 years, but what’s even more amazing is they haven’t fired a coach in 50 years.
Bill Austin was the last guy to get the Steelers’ axe. It was December 1968, and he had just finished his third season. He had been an assistant with the Green Bay Packers and had come highly recommended by Vince Lombardi. A perfect hire. Austin’s record was 11-28-1.
The third coach since Austin, Mike Tomlin, isn’t going to be fired any time soon, even though lots of people in these parts, including a growing number in the media, think he should.
The two who preceded Tomlin knew when to walk away: Chuck Noll after 23 years and Bill Cowher after 15.
Dan Rooney was never going to fire the guy he hired, who was also his friend, and had overseen the greatest turnaround in American sports history. Noll did him a favor by realizing he was at the end. He probably stayed two or three years too long, but it was definitely time for him to go in 1991.
Cowher was one year removed from winning a Super Bowl and had just finished 8-8. He might not have been on top when he went out after 15 years, but he was close.
Now it’s time for Tomlin to walk away. He should do himself and his boss, Art Rooney II, a favor. There are eight openings for coaches in the NFL, and Tomlin probably would have his choice from multiple offers within 20 minutes of his resignation.
He’s a good coach.
You can’t fire a guy who’s 1-1 in the Super Bowl and never has had a losing season. But Tomlin should see he has peaked at his current location, and the smart move is to get out while the getting is good.
Tomlin oversaw one of the worst collapses in Pittsburgh sports history, and he’s the coach of a team being called a laughing stock.
He hasn’t won a playoff game in two seasons, and he has lost way too many games to inferior teams. The Antonio Brown fiasco has turned into a soap opera that has embarrassed the NFL’s most respected franchise.
There are conflicting reports about what happened between Tomlin’s future Hall of Fame quarterback and his future Hall of Fame wide receiver during the last week of practice.
Antonio Brown threw the ball at Ben Roethlisberger and walked off the field.
That was the story for a while.
Then former NFL wide receiver James Jones, an NFL Network analyst, reported another side of the story. His sources said Roethlisberger picked on Brown too much in team meetings and practices and damaged their relationship. Jones was told it was Roethlisberger who threw the ball on the field and said, “Get him outta here” after Brown ran the wrong route.
Please.
Where’s the coach?
The two most important players on the team, who are being paid a combined $30 million a year, are feuding?
Fix it. Kick both of them off the practice field. Have a meeting. Bench somebody before the 17th Sunday of the season.
Is there any reason to believe things are going to get better with this team before they get worse? Tomlin’s best days as a Steelers coach are behind him. Too many seasons of underachievement. Way too much drama. He needs a fresh start.
Walk away. Maybe the Steelers streak of not firing a coach can extend to 60 years instead of ending at 51.
John Steigerwald is a freelance writer.
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