Tomlin Has Never Had A Losing Season

[Professor Half Wit]

For me the bottom line is this.... non-losing season is fine. It tells a story of being competitive and having to pick in the mid-high to high RND of the draft. It also tells a story of the great Championship drought. Being one and done in the postseason....

So, while folks get excited over mediocrity I still have that 'Fanatic Hunger' for another Championship(s). You know, since the Steelers are so competitive to not have a losing season in 13 years?!

I understand why you are saying it, but is it really mediocre never to have a losing season in the NFL and all the while never getting to reload with really high draft picks?

And I'm not being a Tomlin apologist merely by asking a question, at least I do not think that I am.

[Jobu]

Yes, I'll go with Kurt Warner. No one is arguing that Tomlin is as good as Belichick.

Is anyone arguing that anyone is as good as BB?

We all suffer to some degree with recency bias. I think you could make a pretty good argument for Paul Brown.

Or Noll, or Landry, Walsh, Lombardi, Halas, Shula....
I mean, they have to at least be in the discussion...right?

Just think what those guys might have done with a high quality film crew!

[Professor Half Wit]

Is anyone arguing that anyone is as good as BB?

We all suffer to some degree with recency bias. I think you could make a pretty good argument for Paul Brown.

Or Noll, or Landry, Walsh, Lombardi, Halas, Shula....
I mean, they have to at least be in the discussion...right?

Just think what those guys might have done with a high quality film crew!

I assumed the context was active coaches, not all-time.

[Jobu]

We all suffer to some degree with recency bias. I think you could make a pretty good argument for Paul Brown.

Or Noll, or Landry, Walsh, Lombardi, Halas, Shula....
I mean, they have to at least be in the discussion...right?

Just think what those guys might have done with a high quality film crew!

I assumed the context was active coaches, not all-time.

Active...cheating aside, there’s no competition.

Jewel brought up Paul Brown, and everyone refers to Belichick as the GOAT.
All time it’s not as cut and dry, there’s at least a discussion...again, cheating aside.

[drmalba]

You seem to be a very low-IQ individual.

This from the person who found the time to get on the internet to argue Jeff Fisher and Chip Kelley would be better gameday coaches than Mike Tomlin. My memory is a bit foggy, but 3-9-1 Kliff Kingsbury may have been another.

I believe you were also the one who took a stand against letting a coach's W-L record influence you into any actual estimation of their ability ("the trap of hindsight thinking"), which is pretty much the Chewbacca defense of Mike Tomlin hatred.

[Smashmouth21]

Mike Tomlin is an excellent head coach. His success and reputation speaks for itself. Everyone outside of Pittsburgh knows this. He is a legit coach of the year candidate and the envy of the majority of the NFL fan bases.

No, he is not perfect. No one is. But Steelers fans (and this board) will always have unrealistically high expectations for him and a corresponding irrational under appreciation for him. Just like Cowher. Once he is gone and there is another coach to over analyze Tomlin will be looked upon much more fondly. Just like Cowher.

[El Kabong]

For me the bottom line is this.... non-losing season is fine. It tells a story of being competitive and having to pick in the mid-high to high RND of the draft. It also tells a story of the great Championship drought. Being one and done in the postseason....

So, while folks get excited over mediocrity I still have that 'Fanatic Hunger' for another Championship(s). You know, since the Steelers are so competitive to not have a losing season in 13 years?!

I understand why you are saying it, but is it really mediocre never to have a losing season in the NFL and all the while never getting to reload with really high draft picks?

And I'm not being a Tomlin apologist merely by asking a question, at least I do not think that I am.

And it's possible that some of Tomlin's teams by rights should have had losing records, but Tomlin was good enough to prevent that.

[El Kabong]

Who's the best QB Tomlin has beaten in the playoffs?

He's had the best roster in the AFC five or six times or more and repeatedly crashed the plane into the mountain.

Meanwhile, BB keeps taking trophies with wrestlers playing guard and lacrosse players at WR.

How many Patriots start for Pittsburgh? Five?

Yes, I'll go with Kurt Warner. No one is arguing that Tomlin is as good as Belichick.

Is Tomlin half as good as Belichick?

I have no idea how to calculate that.

The standard is the standard. I've never seen Tomlin beat a better roster yet he regularly gets whipped by shitty teams led by HOFers like Bortles and Tebow.

I told you Cleveland's was a better roster, and another poster threw in that the Rams' and Colts' probably were too.

You focus so much on the QB position, how about these teams that Tomlin is beating with a second-year first-time starter and a rookie?

BB takes a bunch of retreads and dominates.

That's why he is arguably the best. Set aside Belichick and name another current coach who's done better than Tomlin.

[Kodiak]

Set aside Belichick and name another current coach who's done better than Tomlin.

Harbaugh.

Don't ask stupid questions you don't know the answer to.

[Professor Half Wit]

Set aside Belichick and name another current coach who's done better than Tomlin.

Harbaugh.

Don't ask stupid questions you don't know the answer to.

Going out on a limb, but Harbaugh has shown the ability to beat the Pats more often than Tomlin. Other than that and taking other records into consideration, not sure you should be your usually confident self about this. Hasn’t Harbaugh repeatedly lost to the Bengals, had playoff droughts, etc?

[Jobu]

Set aside Belichick and name another current coach who's done better than Tomlin.

Harbaugh.

Don't ask stupid questions you don't know the answer to.

Going out on a limb, but Harbaugh has shown the ability to beat the Pats more often than Tomlin. Other than that and taking other records into consideration, not sure you should be your usually confident self about this. Hasn’t Harbaugh repeatedly lost to the Bengals, had playoff droughts, etc?

Yeah, but The Ultimate Whiner won a Super Bowl with Joe Flacco, so there’s that...

[Professor Half Wit]

Harbaugh.

Don't ask stupid questions you don't know the answer to.

Going out on a limb, but Harbaugh has shown the ability to beat the Pats more often than Tomlin. Other than that and taking other records into consideration, not sure you should be your usually confident self about this. Hasn’t Harbaugh repeatedly lost to the Bengals, had playoff droughts, etc?

Yeah, but The Ultimate Whiner won a Super Bowl with Joe Flacco, so there’s that...

True, but if we're being honest, we'll admit that Flacco went on quite the run. Anquan helped a bit.

You know, I have this fantasy this year and it is not the Steelers winning the SB, because that's not possible with this offense. The fantasy is that the Steelers end up defeating Baltimore in the playoffs. My god, the gnashing of teeth in Baltimore would be incredible.

[Jobu]

Going out on a limb, but Harbaugh has shown the ability to beat the Pats more often than Tomlin. Other than that and taking other records into consideration, not sure you should be your usually confident self about this. Hasn’t Harbaugh repeatedly lost to the Bengals, had playoff droughts, etc?

Yeah, but The Ultimate Whiner won a Super Bowl with Joe Flacco, so there’s that...

True, but if we're being honest, we'll admit that Flacco went on quite the run. Anquan helped a bit.

You know, I have this fantasy this year and it is not the Steelers winning the SB, because that's not possible with this offense. The fantasy is that the Steelers end up defeating Baltimore in the playoffs. My god, the gnashing of teeth in Baltimore would be incredible.

Now that would be sweet. Almost, ALMOST as good as winning the Super Bowl.

[Pabst]

Harbaugh won with Billick's players

[K_C_]

Mike Tomlin is an excellent head coach. His success and reputation speaks for itself. Everyone outside of Pittsburgh knows this. He is a legit coach of the year candidate and the envy of the majority of the NFL fan bases.

No, he is not perfect. No one is. But Steelers fans (and this board) will always have unrealistically high expectations for him and a corresponding irrational under appreciation for him. Just like Cowher. Once he is gone and there is another coach to over analyze Tomlin will be looked upon much more fondly. Just like Cowher.

I don't look at the Cowher era fondly at all.

He was a fuckface who never, ever valued the QB position.

The imbecile wanted to draft Shawn Andrews instead of Roethlisberger. Enough said.

Dumblin is coaching with zero pressure this year and it shows. Last year, with expectations? Ended in embarrassment.

Of course, that embarrassment paled in comparison to the years ending with losses to Bortles and Tebow.

[drmalba]

Set aside Belichick and name another current coach who's done better than Tomlin.

Harbaugh.

Don't ask stupid questions you don't know the answer to.

Alright, this bromance with the goddamn Ravens coach has to stop. Out of principle alone.

I respect Harbaugh. He's gotten the better of the Patriots more than Tomlin, no doubt, and he's got two more playoff victories than our guy. He's a very good coach.

By my count, he's also got less regular season wins, half as many division titles, lower season win %, less conference title appearances, and one less SB appearance than our guy.
Head to head we're dead even with a game to go in the regular season and maybe if things go right, in the playoffs.
Even if you just focus on the last five years, Tomlin has three playoff appearances to Harbaugh's one. And there he got bounced in the first round too.

Another thing BTW, Tomlin swept the Ravens in 2008 including a playoff victory. That is incredibly fucking hard to do and something Harbaugh has never done to us.

At this point in time, this is a "stupid question" only to someone who regularly wears a crab bib and keeps a stash of old bay handy.

[Jobu]

Set aside Belichick and name another current coach who's done better than Tomlin.

Harbaugh.

Don't ask stupid questions you don't know the answer to.

Alright, this bromance with the goddamn Ravens coach has to stop. Out of principle alone.

I respect Harbaugh. He's gotten the better of the Patriots more than Tomlin, no doubt, and he's got two more playoff victories than our guy. He's a very good coach.

By my count, he's also got less regular season wins, half as many division titles, lower season win %, less conference title appearances, and one less SB appearance than our guy.
Head to head we're dead even with a game to go in the regular season and maybe if things go right, in the playoffs.
Even if you just focus on the last five years, Tomlin has three playoff appearances to Harbaugh's one. And there he got bounced in the first round too.

Another thing BTW, Tomlin swept the Ravens in 2008 including a playoff victory. That is incredibly fucking hard to do and something Harbaugh has never done to us.

At this point in time, this is a "stupid question" only to someone who regularly wears a crab bib and keeps a stash of old bay handy.

And don’t forget that John Harbaugh does, in fact, have a losing season...

[swissvale72]

Mike Tomlin is an excellent head coach. His success and reputation speaks for itself. Everyone outside of Pittsburgh knows this. He is a legit coach of the year candidate and the envy of the majority of the NFL fan bases.

No, he is not perfect. No one is. But Steelers fans (and this board) will always have unrealistically high expectations for him and a corresponding irrational under appreciation for him. Just like Cowher. Once he is gone and there is another coach to over analyze Tomlin will be looked upon much more fondly. Just like Cowher.

Thing is...as one that lives outside of Pittsburgh, to the extent that the above is true, it's because it's only us asshats that watch this gameday dumbfuck, game in and game out, every fuckin' Sunday, for the past 13 years. Other people hear his exceedingly well-developed line of bullshit and think he's a good coach.

[Professor Half Wit]

Mike Tomlin is an excellent head coach. His success and reputation speaks for itself. Everyone outside of Pittsburgh knows this. He is a legit coach of the year candidate and the envy of the majority of the NFL fan bases.

No, he is not perfect. No one is. But Steelers fans (and this board) will always have unrealistically high expectations for him and a corresponding irrational under appreciation for him. Just like Cowher. Once he is gone and there is another coach to over analyze Tomlin will be looked upon much more fondly. Just like Cowher.

Thing is...as one that lives outside of Pittsburgh, to the extent that the above is true, it's because it's only us asshats that watch this gameday dumbfuck, game in and game out, every fuckin' Sunday, for the past 13 years. Other people hear his exceedingly well-developed line of bullshit and think he's a good coach.

Or they don't hear it and think he's a good coach.

[stillthere]

And it's possible that some of Tomlin's teams by rights should have had losing records, but Tomlin was good enough to prevent that.

could also be said that with a HOF QB going 8-8 and only having 3 playoff wins in a decade is a black mark on a coaches record. I am neither anti Tomlin nor pro Tomlin I am a Steeler fan. While he is my coach I wish him the utmost success.

[stillthere]

Harbaugh.

Don't ask stupid questions you don't know the answer to.

Going out on a limb, but Harbaugh has shown the ability to beat the Pats more often than Tomlin. Other than that and taking other records into consideration, not sure you should be your usually confident self about this. Hasn’t Harbaugh repeatedly lost to the Bengals, had playoff droughts, etc?

Yeah, but The Ultimate Whiner won a Super Bowl with Joe Flacco, so there’s that...

He beat his little brother. That is what older brothers do.

[stillthere]

He was a fuckface who never, ever valued the QB position.

He never had a chance to draft a good QB until 2004. This whole concept is old and stale. He also coached the 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th best QB's in the Steelers history. Ben, Neil, Tommy and Kordell. I apologize for him not having Bradshaw.

[COR-TEN]

Set aside Belichick and name another current coach who's done better than Tomlin.

Harbaugh.

Don't ask stupid questions you don't know the answer to.

Alright, this bromance with the goddamn Ravens coach has to stop. Out of principle alone.

I respect Harbaugh. He's gotten the better of the Patriots more than Tomlin, no doubt, and he's got two more playoff victories than our guy. He's a very good coach.

By my count, he's also got less regular season wins, half as many division titles, lower season win %, less conference title appearances, and one less SB appearance than our guy.
Head to head we're dead even with a game to go in the regular season and maybe if things go right, in the playoffs.
Even if you just focus on the last five years, Tomlin has three playoff appearances to Harbaugh's one. And there he got bounced in the first round too.

Another thing BTW, Tomlin swept the Ravens in 2008 including a playoff victory. That is incredibly fucking hard to do and something Harbaugh has never done to us.

At this point in time, this is a "stupid question" only to someone who regularly wears a crab bib and keeps a stash of old bay handy.

Good post. But I have to say old bay has it's uses. Not many, but a few. Now the crab bib thing? Nah. Never.

[El Kabong]

Set aside Belichick and name another current coach who's done better than Tomlin.

Harbaugh.

Don't ask stupid questions you don't know the answer to.

Would that be the Harbaugh who missed the playoffs three seasons in a row and four out of five seasons? The Harbaugh who only needed to beat the lowly Bengals the other year to get into the playoffs but lost? The Harbaugh who is 1-2 vs. Tomlin in the playoffs? THAT Harbaugh?

[K_C_]

Set aside Belichick and name another current coach who's done better than Tomlin.

Harbaugh.

Don't ask stupid questions you don't know the answer to.

Would that be the Harbaugh who missed the playoffs three seasons in a row and four out of five seasons? The Harbaugh who only needed to beat the lowly Bengals the other year to get into the playoffs but lost? The Harbaugh who is 1-2 vs. Tomlin in the playoffs? THAT Harbaugh?

It's the Harbaugh that didn't inherit a Hall of Fame QB, a Super Bowl quality defense and a legendary Hall of Fame defensive coordinator.

LIke Dumblin did.

[Smashmouth21]

Dudes slurping on Harbaugh crack me up. Good coach. A step below Tomlin by most measures.

[El Kabong]

Harbaugh.

Don't ask stupid questions you don't know the answer to.

Would that be the Harbaugh who missed the playoffs three seasons in a row and four out of five seasons? The Harbaugh who only needed to beat the lowly Bengals the other year to get into the playoffs but lost? The Harbaugh who is 1-2 vs. Tomlin in the playoffs? THAT Harbaugh?

It's the Harbaugh that didn't inherit a Hall of Fame QB, a Super Bowl quality defense and a legendary Hall of Fame defensive coordinator.

LIke Dumblin did.

And how long does Harbaugh get the "didn't have a franchise QB" excuse? Is Lamar Jackson a franchise QB?

[Pabst]

Harbaugh.

Don't ask stupid questions you don't know the answer to.

Would that be the Harbaugh who missed the playoffs three seasons in a row and four out of five seasons? The Harbaugh who only needed to beat the lowly Bengals the other year to get into the playoffs but lost? The Harbaugh who is 1-2 vs. Tomlin in the playoffs? THAT Harbaugh?

It's the Harbaugh that didn't inherit a Hall of Fame QB, a Super Bowl quality defense and a legendary Hall of Fame defensive coordinator.

LIke Dumblin did.

But he did inherit Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Terrel Suggs, and Haloti Ngata. He has exactly one playoff win since that group disbanded 5 years ago

[Kodiak]

But he did inherit Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Terrel Suggs, and Haloti Ngata. He has exactly one playoff win since that group disbanded 5 years ago

LOL. Tomlin's 2010 team had something like 3-4X that many starters from Cowher's teams, along with his OC and DC.

Yeah, maybe Harbaugh finally has a franchise QB in Lamar Jackson. But he drafted and developed the guy, built the offense around him. Sure, Ben has continued to improve like all QB's, but he was pretty much a finished product heading into his 4th year in 2007.

[955876]

It’s scary to think what Jibba & Randy Sphincter would have done with a talent like Jackson.

He’d be riding pine behind some scrub for sure.