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Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin stands on the sidelines during the second half of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023.
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Paul Zeise: Mike Tomlin can be a part of the solution next season, but only if there are changes

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Paul Zeise: Mike Tomlin can be a part of the solution next season, but only if there are changes

The Steelers' loss Saturday in Indianapolis was a disaster in almost every way possible.

It is the third loss in a row in what is shaping up to be a monumental collapse, considering the opponents and quarterbacks they faced in those three games.

Predictably, the last few days have been a barrage of “fire everyone” on the airwaves, on social media and everywhere else that someone could offer an opinion. Clearly, Mike Tomlin has become the focal point of much of the ire; well, unless you include national media, which still has guys explaining to all of us local yokels that we just don’t know how good we have it here.

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I’m done with that mess.

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The Steelers have been a model of consistency, indeed, but unfortunately that consistency has slipped into consistent mediocrity under Tomlin’s watch.

Barring a miracle of miracles, the Steelers won’t make the playoffs this year, which will make seven years in a row without winning a playoff game.

One of my colleagues at 93.7 the Fan, Andrew Fillipponi, did some digging to find this little nugget, which says it all — the only two coaches who have survived seven years without a playoff win in the Super Bowl era are Jim Mora in New Orleans and Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati. Mora took over what was maybe the worst franchise in the NFL at the time and made them respectable, and Lewis made the playoffs and won division titles for a franchise that hadn’t been relevant for about 20 years before he arrived.

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In other words, outside of those two circumstances, no coach has been granted as much slack as Tomlin regarding failure to win playoff games.

That is why it is totally understandable that people are ready to blow it all up after Saturday's debacle. It did really feel like the end of the line, and Tomlin sounded like a coach out of answers with his rambling postgame remarks. 

I actually will continue to write the same thing with respect to Tomlin: I can make a case the Steelers should move on from him, but I also can make a case that they should keep him around for at least one more season to see if he can help turn things around.

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And that’s the case I will make right now — that staying the course for at least one more year isn’t the worst idea I’ve heard.

First, though, it has to be exactly that — one more year and nothing promised beyond it. I don’t want to read about a contract extension for Tomlin this offseason (unless, of course, the miracle happens: they make the playoffs and win a playoff game ... or whatever). 

Tomlin has one more year on his contract, and if I were Art Rooney II, Omar Khan or Andy Weidl, I would sit him down and explain that next year he is coaching for an extension. It is playoffs or bust next year, and it also can’t be another season of gaffes, miscues and needing miracles to win games and get to the playoffs.

That is the first step because Tomlin wouldn’t be the first — or 10th or 1,000th — person who was essentially given a “prove it to me” season to figure things out. And quite frankly, we see a lot of coaches and athletes do their best work when they know that their performance is tied to their next contract.

Now, Tomlin might say, “I have been here 17 years, won a Super Bowl and shouldn’t need to prove anything,” and if that’s the case the answer should be, “Pick up the phone and call any of the teams that have openings and try and work out a trade for yourself or sit out a year.” 

Harsh?

Yes, but that’s the approach that needs to be taken because Tomlin has not had any pushback from anyone in the organization for too long, and that has been a part of the problem.

It is more than fair to say, “You have one more year on your contract. Let’s see if we can get this right.”

The second step is the obvious one: Khan, Weidl and Tomlin clean house on the offensive staff and together all three of them hire an offensive coordinator. They need to take a page from the stubborn defensive-minded coach next door, Pat Narduzzi, and go hire an offensive coordinator who believes in being aggressive and scoring points. They need to get one of these young quarterback whisperers to work with Kenny Pickett and rebuild the staff from there.

The next step is to move on from George Pickens and Najee Harris and put the rest of the group on notice that the Steelers are getting back to a culture of winning, meaning “we only want winning players here.” Yes, I know there is a lot of draft currency in those two players, but this offseason has to be about tearing the bandage off. Harris has made it clear he doesn’t want to be here anymore, and Pickens is another one of these million-dollar talent, me-first, 10-cent head type of players that destroy locker rooms.

Weidl and company then need to find a center that can actually play in the NFL and three or four wide receivers and then hope their inside linebackers get healthy in the offseason.

There is a draft, there is free agency, and there are a bunch of other opportunities to add players. This has to be an offseason of rebuilding the roster.

I am also OK with the idea that Pickett returns to spring football as the starter. Still, there has to be a move for a player like, say, Kirk Cousins (i.e., a veteran who has proven he can win in the NFL) to come in to compete for the job and be an insurance policy. Maybe Mason Rudolph lights it up on Saturday in Cincinnati, but in the absence of that, the quarterback room has not been nearly good enough this year.

If all of those things happen, you know what? Tomlin has been a good enough coach over time that I do think he could put it all together and make it work. But the days of him being entirely in charge of personnel decisions, coaching decisions, and even the overall philosophy of the offense have to be over, at least for now.

There is something to be said about his ability to rally the troops and keep them above water every year, but what he has produced over the last seven seasons has not been good enough to allow him to continue to dictate so much of what goes on.

Paul Zeise: pzeise@post-gazette.com or Twitter: @paulzeise

First Published: December 19, 2023, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: December 19, 2023, 6:11 p.m.

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