For Tomlin, 2024 an Important Season
Oh, how the countless ‘Yinzer’ sites focusing on the Pittsburgh Steelers are hitting crash potential. Art Rooney II (aka AJR2) has announced a three-year contract extension for head coach Mike Tomlin. Steelers Nation is not quite divided as much as America is purported to be by pundits of both the left and the right in this country. It’s close, though.
2016. That’s the last time the Steelers won a post-season game. In common dog year terms, that’s 56 years. For Steelers Nation, it’s more like a century. To remind you of how long ago the 18–16 second-round playoff win against Kansas City actually was, Le’Veon Bell was level-headed enough to carry the ball 30-times for 170-yards and a touchdown.
The positive mantra for Tomlin is the ‘never had a losing season.’ In today’s stats-freak-filled world, that may be great for a coach to hang their hat on. But, it’s diddly-squat, pooh-pooh-puhdooh for whats important to Steelers Nation, especially those who lived through the days of Chuck Noll’s 70s teams and the expectation of excellence. Yes, the Yinzers eventually turned on The Emperor in the mid-80s, or as I like to refer to them as the Malone era. Noll’s ability to draft the likes of Lloyd, Woodson, Lake and others renewed hope in the latter part of the decade. It also led to Bill Cowher’s early success when he was hired in 1992.
Throughout the tenures of Noll and Cowher, the expectations may have wavered a bit but the true expectation became: Make the playoffs & you never know.
In 1984, no one expected Noll’s club with Malone at quarterback to beat the John Elway Broncos at Mile High Stadium. But it happened. The following week in Miami, the team stayed with Dan Marino’s Dolphins for about a one-and-a-half quarters…until Marino’s revenge factor for the Steelers passing him by in the previous year’s draft took over.
Fast-forward five years to 1989, and a team that was outscored 92–10 in the first two games of the season managed to make the playoffs. It then went down to Houston and got Jerry Glanville fired. The following week, an even better Elway-led Broncos team was nearly shocked. That’s where the just make the playoffs & anything can happen was born.
That mantra carried over during the Cowher years (including the Super Bowl XL year when the Steelers entered as the last team to make the playoffs). The 2016 playoff win was Tomlin’s venture into that arena.
AJR2 Believes!
Art Rooney II says he believes in Tomlin. Now comes the part where I will appear to be speaking out of the other side of my mouth. I do, too. Not to get all Forrest Gump on you, but hiring a new head coach is akin to that box of chocolates Forrest opened at the bus stop. You never know what you’re going to get.
In Cincinnati, there are die-hard Bengals fans who laughed at me a couple years ago when I began questioning whether it was time for Tomlin to…in Noll-ese…’get on with his life’s work.’ That was the dark, Antonio Brown era. It looked like Tomlin had lost control of the players. Then, we find out just how much the veteran coach had kept the governor on Brown. Like the governor on an old steam engine, it finally blew and Brown went spastic.
Unfortunately, there is a faction — and I dearly pray it’s a miniscule faction — of Steelers Nation that is still Neanderthal in its thinking and has a chip on their shoulder about Tomlin’s race. I don’t say this easily, as the Steelers organization were at the forefront of breaking the ‘unwritten’ NFL rules of the 1960s regarding the roster ratio of white and black players. It’s common knowledge Noll, during his interview in 1969, said he would draft and play the best players available. Scout Bill Nunn saw to that, finding L.C. Greenwood, Dwight White, Mel Blount, Ernie Holmes and John Stallworth. (I leave Joe Greene out of the conversation, as Noll knew about Greene while he was defensive coordinator with the Colts. He knew Baltimore would never have a chance to draft Greene. Once he became the Steelers head coach, Noll already had his first-round pick in his pocket.)
Switchin’ Back to the Other Side of My Mouth
The upcoming season is an important one for Tomlin. Gone is the goofy offense of Matt Canada. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith brings the ‘run first’ mentality — a real run-first mentality — that Rooney called for two seasons ago. The combo of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren will improve over last year’s numbers. Quarterback Russell Wilson has plenty left in the tank, and his presence will be something for Steelers Nation to enjoy. The defense will once again wreak havoc on the NFL. The ‘pundits’ say the Steelers will be under .500 for the first time under Tomlin. I’m only a nickle-and-dime bettor, but I believe this year will break the playoff loss string.
If not, then Glen Frey’s The Heat is On will be blaring throughout the team’s Southside facility.
