Steelers' Mike Tomlin Is A Victim Of The Most Misleading Stat In The NFL

The Pittsburgh Steelers are known as one of the most successful organizations in the NFL, and they have been consistently good across multiple decades. Pittsburgh dominated the 1970s, won two Super Bowls in the 2000s, and had one of the most prolific offenses in the league during the 2010s. It is safe to say that the fanbase is used to winning, which also includes winning in the postseason. In Pittsburgh, the standard is getting to the postseason and winning game, which unfortunately hasn't happened lately.

Head Coach Mike Tomlin hasn't won a playoff game since the 2016 NFL season. Pittsburgh went to the AFC Championship Game, but the organization hasn't seen that same level of success since then. This is one of the biggest arguments against Tomlin, although it is widely agreed upon that he is one of the best head coaches in the league. NFL reporter Sheil Kapadia spoke about this knock on Tomlin on Saturday while appearing on The Ryen Russilo Podcast.

"That stat, and it gets brought up all the time with Mike Tomlin that he hasn't won a playoff game since 2016." Kapadia said. "I'm just like dude, look at Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, Duck Hodges. Now there was a year or two with good Ben Roethlisberger and then washed Ben Roethlisberger. It's like the most misleading stat in the NFL. You take a league average coach with those quarterbacks and they're not sniffing the playoffs and you're complaining about not having a playoff win."

The Steelers' fanbase is fairly divided on Tomlin. Many fans appreciate the coach for keeping the team competitive when most organizations would have committed to a rebuild, but other fans are tired of the mediocrity that has been the Steelers over the last seven seasons. Pittsburgh has made plenty of postseason appearances, but they just have failed to advance in the playoffs.

The last time the Steelers won a playoff game was during the 2016 season when they took down the Kansas City Chiefs. Pittsburgh has appeared in the postseason four times since then, but has gone a miserable 0-4. During the 2017 season Pittsburgh earned a first-round bye, but then got upset at home by the Jacksonville Jaguars. During the 2020 season they were once against upset by the Cleveland Browns.

The postseason losses to the Jaguars and Browns were extremely disappointing, but every postseason appearance since then has gone as expected. Pittsburgh lost to the Chiefs in 2021 in what was Ben Roethlisberger's last game. The Steelers then lost to the Buffalo Bills in 2023. Those outcomes were expected as the Steelers were clearly outmanned in both of those matchups.

The fanbase should probably cut Tomlin some slack for the lack of recent playoff success, although it has been disappointing.

Steelers' Tomlin Is A Surefire Hall Of Famer

Tomlin has won a Super Bowl as a head coach, which is obviously the highlight of his career, but Kapadia thinks a different season should be remembered more. Kapadia brought up the 2019 season where Tomlin led his team to an 8-8 record after Roethlisberger went down in Week 2 and the team started the year off 0-3.

"That's the year." Kapadia said. "Like his Hall Of Fame plaque, forget the Super Bowl, like this guy went over .500 with Duck Hodges and Mason Rudolph, enough said. He doesn't need to do anything else in his career. So I think Tomlin's awesome."

After Roethlisberger went down in 2019 it was a tough season for Pittsburgh. Mason Rudolph became the starter, but eventually he was replaced by Devlin Hodges. Somehow Tomlin coached his team to an 8-8 finish to the season, but they did not make the playoffs. In fact, Pittsburgh's regular season finale against the Baltimore Ravens at the end of the 2019 season was the only game in his career that Tomlin has coached while being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. This is a big reason he is considered one of the best coaches of all time.

What do you think about Kapadia's comments on Tomlin? Let us know in the comments below!

#SteelerNation