Welcome to Brian Batko’s Steelers mailbag. You can submit your questions to Brian directly @BrianBatko on X and bbatko@post-gazette.com.
Lawrence J: Brian – thanks for all of your great reporting and wise insights. Just curious as I don’t live in Pgh anymore – have the police put out Missing Persons Reports for all of the people who were pushing Tomlin for Coach of the Year a month ago – I don’t seem to be hearing their voices anymore? In all seriousness if you’re ARII, Khan, the minority owners – doesn’t something need to be done? The Steelers have become the definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Brian: Yeah, what a difference a month makes, right, Lawrence? The morning of Dec. 15, the Steelers were getting ready to play in Philadelphia against an Eagles squad that looked like the more dysfunctional team in the state and susceptible to an upset. I’m not sure how many Steelers players and coaches Kenny Pickett shook hands with or spoke to, but he may have put a hex on them. The Kenny Curse. They haven’t won since.
In all seriousness, you're right that Mike Tomlin went from highest approval rating here in quite some time to lowest in the span of five games. The vitriol is so overwhelming at the moment that I have to wonder how difficult it will be for him to ever get the fan base back on his side.
But Tomlin is staying and taking his chances to overcome such a mountain of negativity. So the question becomes what to do now, particularly for his bosses — or at least the people who sign the checks. I think they need to rethink how this franchise operates, revamp the organization to an extent and basically bring it into the 21st century of how NFL teams are run.
Stop having one of the smallest coaching, support and analytics staffs in the NFL. Stop having so many inexperienced assistants who command lower salaries. Stop with such an archaic view of “too many cooks in the kitchen” when you see your competition employing run game coordinators, pass game coordinators — on both sides of the ball — as well as game-day advisers who help their head coaches with timeouts, challenges, clock management, etc.
Easy for me to say because it’s not my money, but pay more people, pay people more or pay more people more and see if it improves the product. None of these suggestions guarantee success. Don’t get me wrong on that. But I’m trying to provide realistic changes that go beyond “fire everyone” if that’s OK.
Ed M: Hi Brian, I enjoy reading your "questions" column and interacting with the fans. My question has to do with Mike Tomlin. For the record, I think Tomlin is a good coach. You don't win 180 games and a Super Bowl without being good at your job; however, it is time for a change. The move is long overdue. This is not Little League. The goal of every season is to win your conference and the Super Bowl and if not it should be. Kevin Colbert who helped build teams that won three AFC Championships and two Super Bowls once stated "But anytime we go into a season, if we don't win a Super Bowl championship, in our eyes, it's a failure". This seems like an eternity ago. The Steelers have created a culture of acceptance and it needs to end. Curious of your thoughts with Tomlin.
Brian: My opinion is Tomlin isn’t accepting of these repeated playoff failures, nor does he pat himself on the back for winning more games than he lost. I believe him when he insists he’s frustrated, disappointed and willing to adapt to ensure it doesn’t keep happening.
But sometimes you can’t accurately assess your own shortcomings. That’s human nature. So, even if he’s not comfortable with the trend here, as he referenced Tuesday, that doesn't mean he’s still capable of knowing what it takes to make himself uncomfortable.
That goes back to my contention that the Steelers need to shake up the division of labor, as Tomlin would put it. Hire more assistants from the outside, maybe even some who didn’t coach or recruit your son in college and will challenge your football philosophies, schemes and messages to players.
Decision makers tend to hire people they’re familiar with or even have worked with in the past. I understand that. But given the rut the Steelers are in, it might be time to be intentional about doing things a different way.
Leon R: Hi Brian, I’ve been following the Steelers for 53 years, since 1972. Unlike the masses that somehow think the Steelers roster is Super Bowl caliber and believe if you simply change the head coach the Steelers will win multiple Super Bowls, I differ. Suppose this is actually the case. The Steelers are a good, not very good team, and certainly not a legit Super Bowl contender. In fact most if most of the other 31 NFL head coaches helmed the team the Steelers would have finished with between 6-8 wins - as most predicted. But Tomlin squeezed out 10 wins and a playoff spot out of this limited roster. Steelers fans simply don’t want to place the most blame where it deserves to be placed, on the players on the field. I simply am interested in your view and why no one seems to care to venture down this road - Tomlin is a HOF coach getting more out of a bunch of nothing than most any other NFL coach could.
Brian: See, the Tomlin defenders, supporters, whatever you want to call them, really are out there. They exist. And I have no problem with that. Differing opinions are perfectly fine — probably even preferred and healthy.
Leon’s lengthy email also mentioned that the defensive talent is subpar, from the linemen not named Cam Heyward to the defensive backs to an average group of linebackers. And he wrote that they have 1½ receivers (George Pickens and Calvin Austin III; decent line there) plus an inconsistent tight end and weakened offensive line, as well as no franchise quarterback.
My primary rebuttal to this would be that Tomlin has a humongous voice and say in the players he coaches. He’s probably as hands-on as any NFL head coach.
And that’s not necessarily unusual or even bad. After all, he’s the one who has to work with these guys, so of course he should be involved as any coach ought to be. But you don’t get to coach your cake and eat it, too ... or something. If you're responsible for talent procurement, then that’s also baked into your job performance. Coaches lose their jobs all the time for players who aren't good enough, whether that’s because they missed on the evaluation or the development or both.
Bob H: Brian, it was not too long ago I remember checking my phone at least hourly on the trade deadline day. Although the Steelers did not make the big splash - they got a quality receiver that I was happy to see pop up on my phone alerts. And, a few of the big catches Mike W made merits that excitement I experienced. Basically - why do we see so little interest in involving Mr W in offensive game plans?
Brian: That’s been confounding to me, too, Bob. To go back to my last response to Leon, the Mike Williams situation is one of those where it feels like the front office and coaching staff were not on the same page. It kind of reminds me of Billy Beane and Art Howe (shoutout Shaler) in “Moneyball,” with Williams being Scott Hatteberg.
So my sense is Omar Khan wanted to upgrade the receiver position, but Tomlin and/or Arthur Smith were perfectly fine with Van Jefferson as the No. 2 guy behind George Pickens. Jefferson’s playing time never really dipped in a consistently significant way even after the acquisition of Williams.
The only week Williams outsnapped Jefferson was in Cleveland 19 to 18, and that’s only because Jefferson had a quad injury early in the game. Let’s think back to what Tomlin had to say the day after the Steelers traded for Williams, shall we? “We're getting to know his skill set, guys, so I've made no presumptions about capabilities or how he fits in,” Tomlin said. “We're working and we're leaning in on this weekend in terms of some of the answers to some of those questions.” Maybe he was never fully on board with that move.
First Published: January 16, 2025, 10:00 a.m.