Is Pittsburgh Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin On the Hot Seat?

[polamalubeast]

After two straight 8-8 seasons the Steelers are on the verge of making a type of history you’d rather not be remembered for. The Steelers haven’t had three consecutive non-winning seasons since 1969-71, Chuck Noll’s first three years as coach. If the team can’t produce a winning season in 2014 the questions about Mike Tomlin‘s job security are sure to arise. The last time the Steelers missed the playoffs three consecutive years was under Bill Cowher between 1998-2000. 14 years ago I’m sure the media and fans began to call of Cowher’s head but the Steelers never made the move to replace Cowher and guess what happened. They went 13-3 the next year and played in the AFC Championship. If Tomlin fails to reach the playoffs this year, will people begin to beg for the Rooney’s to make a move? Seven years into his head coaching career, Tomlin has the exact same record Cowher had after his first seven seasons, 71-41. Cowher however only missed the playoffs one time in his first seven seasons, compared to Tomlin who has missed the playoffs three times. The 42-year-old Tomlin is still one of the youngest coaches in the NFL and according to some of his quotes in a tribune article he has no plans to leave the Steel City or a timetable of when he wants to stop coaching.


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http://nicepickcowher.com/2014/07/20/pittsburgh-steelers-coach-mike-tomlin-hot-seat/

[X-Terminator]

Hot seat? The fans fired him 3 years ago.

Seriously though, I would have to say yes. I get the sense that Art II is not as patient with coaches as his father and grandfather were.

[Edman]

No. Why would Tomlin be on the Hot Seat for something that was coming? The Steelers' run with the 2000's squad is over. All the icons besides Ben and Troy from the 2000's teams are gone. Hines, Smith, Hampton, Harrison, Clark, Keisel, and Woodley are all gone. Seasons like 2012 and 2013 were an inevitability. New Faces. Lots of rookies. New Offense. Declining, leaving vets. It was going to happen.

If the Steelers have a worse finish and look even worse in 2014 than in 2013, then Tomlin is on the hot seat. Going 8-8 after such a catastrophic start last year and a missed Ryan Succop FG away from the postseason no less won Tomlin some more time in Pittsburgh.

Until the Steelers are wallowing in Sub-.500 records for the forseeable future, Tomlin isn't going anywhere.

[Count Steeler]

Unless we go sub .500 without injuries, Tomlin is safe.

I think we make the playoffs this year.

[steelreserve]

I think he is. Not because OMG 8-8 or because OMG we didn't win the Super Bowl and Steelers fans are so spoiled they think anything less than a championship means fire the coach - but because we've generally been headed in the wrong direction over the past few years. The championship team was allowed to crumble and our main reaction was to stand pat, or when we did make a move we often misfired.

I am hopeful that's about to change, as I think we made several moves this offseason that will help get us pointed in the right way again. How much of that was Tomlin's doing? That's another separate debate, but we ought to be improving nonetheless. We do, and it relieves him of a lot of those questions. But have another disappointing season when by all accounts we should do better, and he could be toast.

[86WARD]

Not yet. Miss the playoffs again and he's on it.

[fansince'76]

I think he is. Not because OMG 8-8 or because OMG we didn't win the Super Bowl and Steelers fans are so spoiled they think anything less than a championship means fire the coach - but because we've generally been headed in the wrong direction over the past few years. The championship team was allowed to crumble and our main reaction was to stand pat, or when we did make a move we often misfired.

Personally, I don't see it that way at all. We stood pat, so to speak, in order to make one more run, which came up one drive short against the Packers. And we've paid dearly for it ever since. The salary cap remaining flat since 2009 didn't help either. And we recently got rid of probably the most crippling contract of all that had this team hamstrung the most. Who knew that Woodley would turn into a lazy fat ass after he got paid?

[ALLD]

Tomlin won the SB in his first few seasons, even though it was with Cowher's team while Chin took a bit longer to win the big one.

[tube517]

Fire him. "House" is over. :chuckle:

[steelreserve]

Personally, I don't see it that way at all. We stood pat, so to speak, in order to make one more run, which came up one drive short against the Packers. And we've paid dearly for it ever since. The salary cap remaining flat since 2009 didn't help either. And we recently got rid of probably the most crippling contract of all that had this team hamstrung the most. Who knew that Woodley would turn into a lazy fat ass after he got paid?

Yeah, that's a good point. There was a reason for going all-in the way we did, and now that we're just starting to come out the other end of it, it's too easy to forget that and just say we were foolish. I guess dipping to 8-8 while paying for your past sins is a lot better than dropping to 4-12.

On the other hand, unrelated to money issues, I think the Ziggy Hood pick was an absolute stink bomb that set back all three phases of the defense with its ripple effect. The lack of OL development was a coaching thing (we didn't blow ALL of those high picks) and if we'd been on top of that from the get-go, we probably would've had more draft picks and money to use on other things. And the monotonous draft strategy of all linemen and LBs in rounds 1-2 every year didn't start until Tomlin arrived, although you could just as easily say until Art Rooney II arrived.

Tomlin did inherit a big salary cap problem that he can't entirely be blamed for, but you also have to acknowledge that there were a lot of missteps in trying to re-emerge from that.

[fansince'76]

On the other hand, unrelated to money issues, I think the Ziggy Hood pick was an absolute stink bomb that set back all three phases of the defense with its ripple effect. The lack of OL development was a coaching thing (we didn't blow ALL of those high picks) and if we'd been on top of that from the get-go, we probably would've had more draft picks and money to use on other things. And the monotonous draft strategy of all linemen and LBs in rounds 1-2 every year didn't start until Tomlin arrived, although you could just as easily say until Art Rooney II arrived.

Tomlin did inherit a big salary cap problem that he can't entirely be blamed for, but you also have to acknowledge that there were a lot of missteps in trying to re-emerge from that.

Agreed. I'd like to have the Hood pick back in particular. Tomlin's track record for hiring assistants (the E-mail Porn King and Bicknell stand out as particularly shitty hires) has also been spotty at best.


Tomlin did inherit a big salary cap problem that he can't entirely be blamed for, but you also have to acknowledge that there were a lot of missteps in trying to re-emerge from that.

Agreed.

[BigNastyDefense]

If the Steelers have an 8-8 record or worse and miss the playoffs next season with minimal injuries to major players, then his seat will get warm.

I think our offensive line will be above average at the least. Pouncey back in at center should be huge.

We need the defense to get back to Top 10 status. If that happens, the team should be back on the right side of .500 and hopefully back in the playoffs.

[Edman]

I think he is. Not because OMG 8-8 or because OMG we didn't win the Super Bowl and Steelers fans are so spoiled they think anything less than a championship means fire the coach - but because we've generally been headed in the wrong direction over the past few years. The championship team was allowed to crumble and our main reaction was to stand pat, or when we did make a move we often misfired.

The "Championship Team" was getting older and clearly slowing down in 2011. The decline was going to happen wether the Steelers wanted it or not. Even before getting Tebowed, the 2011 Steelers weren't that great a team despite their 12-4 record, hell it's even debatable if the 2010 team was that great either. Our secondary was average and the Offense was mediocre under Arians as usual.

If anything, the bad signs started to show back in 2009, when the Front Office failed to react to the fact that if our Defense is having a bad day of any kind, we're in trouble, because our Offense just isn't reliable enough not only to pull it's weight and win, but not even make the postseason. Instead, Arians hung around for two more years, and we kept riding our Defense to the Playoffs. When the Defense went south, so did the Steelers. The Haley Hire came two years too late. Now, the Steelers got the worst of both worlds in 2012 and 2013: The clumsiness of a new offense being installed with a declining Defense losing steps and talent: Back to back 8-8 seasons.

We were able to get away with what we were doing because the Defense could be counted on to an extent to save the day. Well, it's not there anymore. It hasn't been there for a while.

Imagine the 2013 offense with the 2007-2010 Defense, we'd be straight.

[Steelerette]

After two 8-8 seasons you can't assume anyone's job is completely safe...

But I wouldn't put Tomlin on the hotseat right now. You have to hand it to the Steelers management - we all have our moments where we hate Colbert, get pissed at Tomlin, whatever, but in the overarching sense of things we get it right. We consciously mortgaged a little bit of the future to keep a core team together and make that Super Bowl run vs. Green Bay - it almost paid off, even. And instead of diving to the league basement, we leveled out at mediocre for a few seasons. Not bad.

Now, injuries and O-line problems aside, Tomlin still had almost no excuse to start last season the way he did, especially since at the end of the 2012 season we were saying the same thing - "team has a lot of promise for next year". But as it stands, we did get it turned around at the end of the year and now we're seeing a lot of the right things happening. Tomlin can't afford a subpar season this year outside of some ridiculous circumstances, and he'll be on the hotseat then for sure, but right now it's not such an issue.

At this stage in Ben's career I don't know that you necessarily want to put him through two years of learning a new head coach, either. We know Tomlin has a few clock management and other weaknesses, but we know he's not a complete schmuck either, so in truth even if this season is mediocre we have the franchise QB's window of opportunity to think about and there will be other fish to fry.

I should qualify this by saying that I'm not really Tomlin's biggest fan - but outside of something really extenuating it would not be a useful thing to the franchise to toss him out.

[ALLD]

They haven't fired a head coach since the Vietnam war. No way they would ever fire Tomlin. They just wouldn't renew his contract if it ever came to that.

[polamalubeast]

The 2010 steelers were a great team....The 2010 Steelers had a better point Differenciels that in 2008

Of course, I'm not saying this team was better than in 2008, but it was undoubtedly a super bowl team


The Steelers were in a transition period in the last two years, but the Steelers have made progress in 2nd half of the season last year, so I hoped that progress will continue in 2014


The Steelers were also in a period of transition under Cowher,it was in 1998-2000.In 2000, the Steelers started 0-3 but finished 9-7 and they continued in 2001 with a record of 13-3

[Shoes]

Hot seat? The fans fired him 3 years ago.

Seriously though, I would have to say yes. I get the sense that Art II is not as patient with coaches as his father and grandfather were.

That is my feeling also. When Dan is gone, there will be probably be changes in all areas of Steeler business. Art II is a lawyer….lawyers are all taught the same thing in school, that is to win.

[Craic]

No. Why would Tomlin be on the Hot Seat for something that was coming? The Steelers' run with the 2000's squad is over. All the icons besides Ben and Troy from the 2000's teams are gone. Hines, Smith, Hampton, Harrison, Clark, Keisel, and Woodley are all gone. Seasons like 2012 and 2013 were an inevitability. New Faces. Lots of rookies. New Offense. Declining, leaving vets. It was going to happen.

If the Steelers have a worse finish and look even worse in 2014 than in 2013, then Tomlin is on the hot seat. Going 8-8 after such a catastrophic start last year and a missed Ryan Succop FG away from the postseason no less won Tomlin some more time in Pittsburgh.

Until the Steelers are wallowing in Sub-.500 records for the forseeable future, Tomlin isn't going anywhere.

This


Personally, I don't see it that way at all. We stood pat, so to speak, in order to make one more run, which came up one drive short against the Packers. And we've paid dearly for it ever since. The salary cap remaining flat since 2009 didn't help either. And we recently got rid of probably the most crippling contract of all that had this team hamstrung the most. Who knew that Woodley would turn into a lazy fat ass after he got paid?

And this.

The one thing I hope is that AR II isn't the type of person that makes a decision, and then blames his underlings when they're dealing with the consequences of those decisions.

[Moose]

I really don't think he's on the HOT SEAT yet. But it is getting warm. His first years were Cowher's put together. Now the team is Tomlin's watch, so to speak. I really don't think the F.O. would fire Mike, although as said earlier, they may not renew his contract as they look for someone better. I think if Tomlin's team wins the division and get's to playoffs, all will be well. ( just beat the damn bungholes and I'm happy....LOL )

[86WARD]

Injuries, Beyond Terrible Drafts in 2008 & 2009, flat salary cap. That's what did this team in the last few seasons...

[GBMelBlount]

Unless we go sub .500 without injuries, Tomlin is safe.

I think we make the playoffs this year.

My feelings EXACTLY.

[GBMelBlount]

Injuries, Beyond Terrible Drafts in 2008 & 2009, flat salary cap. That's what did this team in the last few seasons...

As you know the cap applies to everyone. So it was really a few hefty contract extensions in conjuction with no cap relief.

[steelerdude15]

He's not in the hot seat. He's fine and I feel the Steelers will have brighter days ahead.

[salamander]

After two straight subpar seasons, I would say his "seat" is warm but not hot yet.

[86WARD]

As you know the cap applies to everyone. So it was really a few hefty contract extensions in conjuction with no cap relief.

Exactly and those contracts coupled with shitty drafts and no "small contract" contributors has killed them...