My buddy is a jags fan, and he’s used to seeing the Steelers do well enough every year. He told me recently that he’s been waiting for the “belichick and Tomlins” of the league to have their turn at mediocrity. He’s been noticing the ‘fire Canada’ chants and at one point in the season he thought it was a good idea for the Steelers to fire Tomlin (he thinks the tomlin lost the locker room by keeping Canada employed). We got in an argument where I was just defending tomlin and the rooneys since they don’t fire coordinators/coaches mid season and that I’m being patient with the team considering injuries, and Canada still employed. My buddy goes on to say with complete confidence “well the jags fire coordinators/head coaches all the time mid season, it’s not that hard”. This my friend, is why the jags are the jags, and the Steelers are Steelers.
Just did a quick google search for “top coaches in NFL history”. The first link is a listicle from February 2023 of the all time top-25. Noll is at 9, Cowher is at 18, Tomlin is at 20. 53 years, 3 head coaches, all 3 among the 20 best to ever do it.
I’m not even gonna take a shot at the Jags, I’m just taking a moment to appreciate how utterly spoiled we’ve been as a franchise to have those guys at the helm. The moment Tomlin hangs up the headset, he’s heading to the tailor to get his gold jacket sized.
Tomlin, Art II, Dan, Cowher, Noll, and the Chief are exactly why this fan base is so vocal in their criticisms of the team. Those guys are the reason that the standard of the franchise is world championships, period.