Will the Steelers enjoy another triumphant one-and-done playoff appearance? Or will they suffer another humiliating one-and-done playoff appearance? Down the Stretch investigates.
Tomlin's most successful skill is his talent at, in the words of a wise man, the Prime NFL Directive "Most NFL decision makers aren’t really trying to win a Super Bowl in most years. They are simply trying to avoid getting fired."
MM is a *pure* Harbs protege. He seems to be an excellent young coach; but the idea that Harbs should've been fired for finding & developing him is tough to parse.
MM is a *pure* defensive mastermind that can scheme up pressure from anyone, anywhere, anytime. These stats might be slightly outdated, but I saw they were 3rd in the league in pressure/sacks while having the 6th lowest blitz rate (doing so without a Garrett/Parsons that offenses have to focus on). The Seahawks are 10-3 with Sam Darnold.
Harbs should have been fired because he has had elite talent in the Lamar era but has had terrible game management tactics, especially in the playoffs. He also gaslights tf outta the fanbase (our O line is apparently awesome). The Ravens are 6-7 with Lamar Jackson.
Yes, a coach is a shield for internal angst/drama. Unless you're Belichik who called out his own players and won 6 super bowls. So instead of being the "this is fine" dog meme while players start chirping about a god awful line in their own interviews, maybe he can admit that Jackson's life is a nightmare currently.
1) MM is a very good coach and he seems to fit in well with Seattle's GM John Schneider. We'll see in the long run how it plays out but so far signs point upward. That doesn't mean that MM had to become the Ravens' HC, even if they had groomed him since 2014. But it does point to the other true thing.
2) The Ravens, even with Lamar Jackson, have in the long run been fairly stagnant since their Super Bowl 2012 win. First there was the post-Super Bowl/expensive Joe Flacco era, 2013-mid 2018 with one playoff appearance. Next was/is the Lamar experience with at times devastating offenses when Lamar is healthy followed by early playoff exits-a more exciting than the Steelers team, yes, but the results are depressingly similar.
Harbaugh and DeCosta seem to have a difficult time assembling a full team that can reach the Super Bowl. Either the OL is injured or bad (multiple years) or the pass rush is almost nonexistent (various years when they aren't ruling on old FA vets). Sometimes there's a poor WR room (again, multiple years). Or the DBs are all hurt (2021). Or most of their coaches leave for other teams (post 2023 season) or they hold on the coordinators too long (Roman, Wink). Then of course Lamar has been hurt in 2021, 2022, and now 2025. It's always something. To me they are too patient, taking too long to make major decisions because they are comfortable where they are.
Completely forgot the 11-0 start and subsequent meltdown a few years ago. Yes, if this happened in Philly it would be a talking point/hot take/red meat for the next 50 years.
To me, the simple analogy is Andy Reid leaving the Eagles. It was just time. He did bottom out with that awful 2012, but it seemed that it was a reluctant parting of the ways. It worked out best for him and for the Eagles. The problem with the Steelers is they just haven't bottomed out yet. To Tomlin's credit, they just keep hanging in the sphere of decent medicority every year. The increasingly embarassing playoff no shows just do not reasonate enough I guess. And of course winning that one Super Bowl has been crucial. Hard to believe the Steelers would have kept him this long if he did not win it.
Great analogy, Ken. Reid was 8-8 (with a 4-8 start and a late winning streak in 2011 before things bottomed out in 2012. Both he and Eagles needed a fresh start, and it worked out well for both parties.
The one question about the Steelers I never see answered is: if you were Mike Tomlin, wouldn't you be looking for a way out? Wouldn't you be tired and bored of this stagnant treadmill and looking for a fresh start? He's still only 53, and as Mike (Tanier) noted, if he and the Steelers parted ways, he'd find a new job in about a week. I don't think a separation would necessarily be good for the Steelers, but I'm confident it would be the best case scenario for their coach.
As a man slightly older than Tomlin: I hate change and would cling to the familiar with all my might.
His children are leaving the nest, though, and that might make moving on more appealing. No one wants to pull kids out of a school if they can avoid it.
BTW, the Internet tells me Tomlin's daughter is named Harley Quinn. I assumed AI somehow confused Tomlin with Kevin Smith, but a few sources list this. Did ... did everyone else know this?
I think I am a much more casual fan than most on this site. I find these articles very insightful because normally I only think about other coaches when they are playing my team or when they are in the headlines for doing something stupid like send racist emails. Reading how fans of teams perceive their coaches strengths and weaknesses provides insight when I am passively watching games I have no skin in. Thanks
"the birthday bash was either an example of his gritty commitment to excellence or the saddest Norma-Desmond-meets-Michael-Scott story ever told" -- HA! so funny and also feels a little too true.
I wonder if Rodgers is "married" the same way he was "immunized" against covid a few years ago. Like I dunno... yes he's married, no he doesn't have a wife, and also he probably did his own research into marriage.
So are about 80% of QB wives. The press leaves them alone if they are not already celebrities or out there promoting themselves. Someone with no record of their existence or relationship to you anywhere is called a "ghost."
I argue with my brother about Tomlin all the time. He wants him sent packing, I'm more philosophical.
I seriously doubt that the Steelers are satisfied with the non-losing season crap, or the organization wouldn't make any moves in the off-season (which used to be the team philosophy). It's just tough to rebuild a Super Bowl roster when it ages out. All teams go through it sooner or later.
Been a Steelers fan since...well, let's just say I had one of the original Franco's Italian Army T-shirts and remember when even the home playoff games were blacked out on local TV.
And old enough to remember what the Steelers looked like for the last 10 years of Chuck Noll's regime. The offensive highlight of each week's game was usually Merrill Hoge diving into the line for a one-yard gain on second and ten. One first-round draft bust after another. Mark Malone, Todd Blackledge, David Woodley--remember him?--behind center. The best running back the team had during the entire decade was Earnest Jackson who was an Eagles' cast-off.
Anyway...this coming Monday...temps at game time will be high single digits, Dolphins never win in the cold, Steelers never lose on MNF...I see a Dolphins win as a mortal lock.
The Steelers defense will never hold up against Detroit, they've lost something like 8 of their last 9 in Cleveland, and then it's the Ravens.
I'm hoping for a 7-10 finish and hopefully a top ten draft pick.
You gotta have bad years. Teams lock up good players before they hit free agency these days, gotta have draft quality and quantity. Can't do it going 10-7 every year.
BTW, I don't think the Ravens are any good either--does Rashod Bateman always drop 4th down passes in goal-to-go situations?--but they're better than Pittsburgh and never should have thrown that game away on Sunday.
IMO, the Steelers basically just lack a QB. They keep kicking the can down the road every year with retreads and half measures. Combined with Tomlin's competent coaching, they end up with a winning record and a quick playoff exit. Ad infinitum.
The offense designed like a retirement home bathroom was extra rich BTW.
I'm pretty sure they know that they need to find a long-term quarterback solution in the draft, but that's easier said than done.
After Terry Bradshaw retired, it was 20 years before they drafted Roethlisberger. Six of the twelve starting QBs in those two decades won playoff games, but I doubt anyone's waiting excitedly for the next Neil O'Donnell. Pickett was the first QB taken in '22, but he was probably a reach at 20. They've tried unsuccessfully to rehabilitate a couple of ex-Bears, and have been marginally successful with a couple of end-of-career stars. Maybe there's a phone call to the Chiefs every year asking if Mahomes is available which is met with gales of laughter.
Obviously, 13-4 is better than 9-8, but 9-8 is better than 4-13. And, as our friends in Cleveland will remind us, going 4-13 doesn't guarantee that you'll get to 13-4.
You had a joke in the last Down the Stretch about it being the least popular feature. It took me reading today’s intro to finally get the joke - ya jinx em! BTWs, no need for a down the stretch on the Seahawks, please.
As another Ravens fan, I need to say that my (genuine!) enjoyment of this piece in all its savagery was tempered by the awareness that a similar piece on the Ravens would've been just as savage — but they failed to even earn the right to get the "Down The Stretch" treatment. .
Aaron Rodgers' wife lives in Canada, you guys probably wouldn't know her.
He has a picture of her he could show you. Not here, though. It's framed, at home.
She calls him Sempai.
☠️
Oh, that's so good.
"Rodgers, a thick-skinned warrior who totally tunes out the noise"...
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
That was my favorite line. 🤣
Elite levels of troll
Tomlin's most successful skill is his talent at, in the words of a wise man, the Prime NFL Directive "Most NFL decision makers aren’t really trying to win a Super Bowl in most years. They are simply trying to avoid getting fired."
:)
Excellent piece. The Steelers are a helluva lot more fun to read about than to be forced to watch in another bloody playoff game.
As a Ravens fan, I totally approve and then look sideways at John Harbaugh and his tenure.
As another Ravens fan, never forget that we could have Mike MacDonald as our head coach right now. A rare, but generational fuck up by Mr. Bisciotti.
Ravens fans' Mike Mac fetish is weird.
MM is a *pure* Harbs protege. He seems to be an excellent young coach; but the idea that Harbs should've been fired for finding & developing him is tough to parse.
No one is sexier than the coach who hasn't experienced any sort of decline yet.
Exactly. Well put.
MM is a *pure* defensive mastermind that can scheme up pressure from anyone, anywhere, anytime. These stats might be slightly outdated, but I saw they were 3rd in the league in pressure/sacks while having the 6th lowest blitz rate (doing so without a Garrett/Parsons that offenses have to focus on). The Seahawks are 10-3 with Sam Darnold.
Harbs should have been fired because he has had elite talent in the Lamar era but has had terrible game management tactics, especially in the playoffs. He also gaslights tf outta the fanbase (our O line is apparently awesome). The Ravens are 6-7 with Lamar Jackson.
To be fair, a lot of that 7 was without 100% of Lamar Jackson.
> He also gaslights tf outta the fanbase (our O line is apparently awesome).
It's true he always, always, always covers for the players in front of the press. Sees it as part of his job, apparently.
I mostly agree with him on that.
Yes, a coach is a shield for internal angst/drama. Unless you're Belichik who called out his own players and won 6 super bowls. So instead of being the "this is fine" dog meme while players start chirping about a god awful line in their own interviews, maybe he can admit that Jackson's life is a nightmare currently.
Yes I agree. Two things can be true-
1) MM is a very good coach and he seems to fit in well with Seattle's GM John Schneider. We'll see in the long run how it plays out but so far signs point upward. That doesn't mean that MM had to become the Ravens' HC, even if they had groomed him since 2014. But it does point to the other true thing.
2) The Ravens, even with Lamar Jackson, have in the long run been fairly stagnant since their Super Bowl 2012 win. First there was the post-Super Bowl/expensive Joe Flacco era, 2013-mid 2018 with one playoff appearance. Next was/is the Lamar experience with at times devastating offenses when Lamar is healthy followed by early playoff exits-a more exciting than the Steelers team, yes, but the results are depressingly similar.
Harbaugh and DeCosta seem to have a difficult time assembling a full team that can reach the Super Bowl. Either the OL is injured or bad (multiple years) or the pass rush is almost nonexistent (various years when they aren't ruling on old FA vets). Sometimes there's a poor WR room (again, multiple years). Or the DBs are all hurt (2021). Or most of their coaches leave for other teams (post 2023 season) or they hold on the coordinators too long (Roman, Wink). Then of course Lamar has been hurt in 2021, 2022, and now 2025. It's always something. To me they are too patient, taking too long to make major decisions because they are comfortable where they are.
Completely forgot the 11-0 start and subsequent meltdown a few years ago. Yes, if this happened in Philly it would be a talking point/hot take/red meat for the next 50 years.
To me, the simple analogy is Andy Reid leaving the Eagles. It was just time. He did bottom out with that awful 2012, but it seemed that it was a reluctant parting of the ways. It worked out best for him and for the Eagles. The problem with the Steelers is they just haven't bottomed out yet. To Tomlin's credit, they just keep hanging in the sphere of decent medicority every year. The increasingly embarassing playoff no shows just do not reasonate enough I guess. And of course winning that one Super Bowl has been crucial. Hard to believe the Steelers would have kept him this long if he did not win it.
Great analogy, Ken. Reid was 8-8 (with a 4-8 start and a late winning streak in 2011 before things bottomed out in 2012. Both he and Eagles needed a fresh start, and it worked out well for both parties.
The one question about the Steelers I never see answered is: if you were Mike Tomlin, wouldn't you be looking for a way out? Wouldn't you be tired and bored of this stagnant treadmill and looking for a fresh start? He's still only 53, and as Mike (Tanier) noted, if he and the Steelers parted ways, he'd find a new job in about a week. I don't think a separation would necessarily be good for the Steelers, but I'm confident it would be the best case scenario for their coach.
As a man slightly older than Tomlin: I hate change and would cling to the familiar with all my might.
His children are leaving the nest, though, and that might make moving on more appealing. No one wants to pull kids out of a school if they can avoid it.
BTW, the Internet tells me Tomlin's daughter is named Harley Quinn. I assumed AI somehow confused Tomlin with Kevin Smith, but a few sources list this. Did ... did everyone else know this?
I think I am a much more casual fan than most on this site. I find these articles very insightful because normally I only think about other coaches when they are playing my team or when they are in the headlines for doing something stupid like send racist emails. Reading how fans of teams perceive their coaches strengths and weaknesses provides insight when I am passively watching games I have no skin in. Thanks
I was surprised Kenny Pickett beat John Browning.
John Browning had much better accuracy and velocity, plus a semi-automatic release.
But now his body lies a'mouldring in the grave.
"the birthday bash was either an example of his gritty commitment to excellence or the saddest Norma-Desmond-meets-Michael-Scott story ever told" -- HA! so funny and also feels a little too true.
I wonder if Rodgers is "married" the same way he was "immunized" against covid a few years ago. Like I dunno... yes he's married, no he doesn't have a wife, and also he probably did his own research into marriage.
"My wife is EXTREMELY private."
So are about 80% of QB wives. The press leaves them alone if they are not already celebrities or out there promoting themselves. Someone with no record of their existence or relationship to you anywhere is called a "ghost."
I argue with my brother about Tomlin all the time. He wants him sent packing, I'm more philosophical.
I seriously doubt that the Steelers are satisfied with the non-losing season crap, or the organization wouldn't make any moves in the off-season (which used to be the team philosophy). It's just tough to rebuild a Super Bowl roster when it ages out. All teams go through it sooner or later.
Been a Steelers fan since...well, let's just say I had one of the original Franco's Italian Army T-shirts and remember when even the home playoff games were blacked out on local TV.
And old enough to remember what the Steelers looked like for the last 10 years of Chuck Noll's regime. The offensive highlight of each week's game was usually Merrill Hoge diving into the line for a one-yard gain on second and ten. One first-round draft bust after another. Mark Malone, Todd Blackledge, David Woodley--remember him?--behind center. The best running back the team had during the entire decade was Earnest Jackson who was an Eagles' cast-off.
Anyway...this coming Monday...temps at game time will be high single digits, Dolphins never win in the cold, Steelers never lose on MNF...I see a Dolphins win as a mortal lock.
The Steelers defense will never hold up against Detroit, they've lost something like 8 of their last 9 in Cleveland, and then it's the Ravens.
I'm hoping for a 7-10 finish and hopefully a top ten draft pick.
> I'm hoping for a 7-10 finish
Your lips to God's ears. With hopefully the Ravens exceeding that.
You gotta have bad years. Teams lock up good players before they hit free agency these days, gotta have draft quality and quantity. Can't do it going 10-7 every year.
BTW, I don't think the Ravens are any good either--does Rashod Bateman always drop 4th down passes in goal-to-go situations?--but they're better than Pittsburgh and never should have thrown that game away on Sunday.
IMO, the Steelers basically just lack a QB. They keep kicking the can down the road every year with retreads and half measures. Combined with Tomlin's competent coaching, they end up with a winning record and a quick playoff exit. Ad infinitum.
The offense designed like a retirement home bathroom was extra rich BTW.
I'm pretty sure they know that they need to find a long-term quarterback solution in the draft, but that's easier said than done.
After Terry Bradshaw retired, it was 20 years before they drafted Roethlisberger. Six of the twelve starting QBs in those two decades won playoff games, but I doubt anyone's waiting excitedly for the next Neil O'Donnell. Pickett was the first QB taken in '22, but he was probably a reach at 20. They've tried unsuccessfully to rehabilitate a couple of ex-Bears, and have been marginally successful with a couple of end-of-career stars. Maybe there's a phone call to the Chiefs every year asking if Mahomes is available which is met with gales of laughter.
Obviously, 13-4 is better than 9-8, but 9-8 is better than 4-13. And, as our friends in Cleveland will remind us, going 4-13 doesn't guarantee that you'll get to 13-4.
The Steelers are also the second oldest team in the league.
You had a joke in the last Down the Stretch about it being the least popular feature. It took me reading today’s intro to finally get the joke - ya jinx em! BTWs, no need for a down the stretch on the Seahawks, please.
Second that about the Seahawks - how about a DTS on the Rams instead?
I am doing a Rams thing on Friday but it is not Down the Stretch bc they are not that interesting. It is more of a stat dive
As another Ravens fan, I need to say that my (genuine!) enjoyment of this piece in all its savagery was tempered by the awareness that a similar piece on the Ravens would've been just as savage — but they failed to even earn the right to get the "Down The Stretch" treatment. .
What a season.
Tomlin would be great for WIP because all he wants to do is run the ball and the bigots would have a field day.
The bigots would, indeed. Pittsburgh radio has a real doozy or two.
"They treated him like the cool shop teacher who lets them build water bongs."
From your own experience as a teacher?