Column | This is the most defining moment in half a decade for Mike Tomlin

Mike Tomlin is the most polarizing figure in town. 

The national media has long praised the resumé of Mike Tomlin, and to his credit, it is quite an impressive one. Tomlin has two Super Bowl appearances, a victory in the 2008 season and 18 straight seasons with a .500 record or better, the longest streak in NFL history to start a coaching career. Tomlin is routinely named the coach nearly every player wants to play for, and when all is said and done, he will end up in the Hall of Fame. 

But closer to home, many Steelers fans have started to see things very differently. They don’t see their “luck” the same way the national media does. They see a head coach who won his Super Bowl 15 years ago, someone who has a terrible record in trap games — now dubbed “Tomlin games” — and, of course, see a coach with a lengthy playoff win drought. 

Tomlin has not won a playoff game since the 2016 season, when the Steelers defeated Kansas City in the Divisional Round. Only three players from that team are still on the roster today. 

Nearly 75% of the NFL has won a playoff game more recently than the Steelers, and in the last 11 years, the Steelers have the same amount of playoff wins as their next-door neighbors, MLB’s Pittsburgh Pirates, who won all of their playoff games in 2013. 

Steelers star T.J. Watt, a former Defensive Player of the Year and a five-time team MVP, is now 30 years old and has never won a playoff game in his highly decorated career.  

Since the Steelers’ last playoff win, they have made the postseason four times. Their prized defense has allowed 41.5 points per game in those contests, and their last three playoff games were all lost by double digits. 

In the regular season, Tomlin’s teams have recorded a three-game losing streak for six straight seasons and have only eclipsed the 10-win mark once during that time. When they have made the playoffs, it’s usually by the skin of their teeth. But when confronted by a legitimate team, the Steelers are dismissed like the quirky younger brother trying to play ball with the big kids. 

The 2024 season was looking like it was destined for something better. Thanks to a complete overhaul of their quarterback room, Tomlin had the best talent under center since the days of Ben Roethlisberger, and even with backup Justin Fields forced to start the first six games, Tomlin was proving doubters wrong about his team. 

His biggest gamble of the season — benching the upstart 4-2 Fields for Russell Wilson, the man he always imagined leading the Steelers in 2024 — paid off in spades. Wilson turned back the clock, and the vibes were sky-high down the stretch of the season. 

Then December came. 

Tomlin has historically struggled when the games matter most. In the last six years, the Steelers are 14-18 in December and have suffered a multi-game losing streak in four of those years. His infamous “unleash hell in December” quote from years back has haunted him, and it’s now often used mockingly by his detractors. 

Tomlin’s luck didn’t change this season. Despite opening the month with wins in Cincinnati and against Cleveland, the Steelers fell three straight times to close the month, losing in Philadelphia and Baltimore then at home on Christmas Day to Kansas City. That losing streak plummeted them to a wild card spot and saw them cede control of the division to Baltimore. 

Then, with one game to right the ship at home, the Steelers laid an egg against the Bengals. 

But it wasn’t just the fact that the Steelers lost all these games that frustrated fans — it was how they lost them. They looked uninspired and lost. Their defense suffered more communication issues than a romance between two moody teens, as the team was outscored 109-57 in those four games. 

The Steelers changed the way they got to the postseason this year. Instead of scratching and clawing their way to the postseason, they are limping in. But the feeling is the same — hopeless. They are waiting to be killed, almost ceremoniously, by a more serious team. 

So when Mike Tomlin walks into M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday to face the Ravens, the same team that thrashed his club 34-17 three weeks ago, he will have his work cut out for him. He has to win a playoff game. 

This isn’t 2021, when the Steelers were playing just to get Big Ben into the playoffs one last time only for him to hilariously publicly suggest they were the worst team in the tournament that year. 

This isn’t 2023, when Mason Rudolph turned from punchline to cult hero in the final few games and the Steelers were playing with house money and a prayer in hand. 

This is 2024. Time has run out for any excuses for Tomlin. Even Wilson’s spectacular collapse down the stretch will not bail out Tomlin this year. Tomlin said after the Bengals loss last weekend that he put no consideration into swapping Wilson out for Fields, and there is no indication that he is considering making a change at starter ahead of the postseason. 

That is his call. That’s why he is “well compensated.” Tomlin will make his bed with whoever he rolls with at quarterback for the playoffs — he has enough evidence to make a well-informed decision. But if Wilson fails, that will ultimately fall on Tomlin, who chose to stick with him in Baltimore. 

To his credit, Tomlin is very self-aware about his role in Pittsburgh’s playoff win drought. 

“Many of these [players] involved do not tote those bags,” Tomlin said. “I happily tote those bags, but it’s not something I’m gonna project on the collective.”

Winning cures everything. A lot of Tomlim’s shortcomings will end up forgiven if the Steelers are still standing past Wild Card Weekend. Snatching just one playoff win will take away the biggest sticking point Tomlin’s detractors can hold over him. 

No one was realistically expecting a Super Bowl win for the Steelers this season, but the objective was clear — they cannot let this losing streak go for another year. 

There are no more excuses. Just go out and execute.