Tomlin needs to be fired as coach of Steelers
As a life-long fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers I must admit that I am thoroughly ashamed of them with regard to their performance versus the talent level that they possess.
Over the past few seasons and just last week in particular leading up to Pittsburgh’s contest against Dallas, I would roll my eyes when people would talk about firing Mike Tomlin and say to myself, “Here we go again.”
I would profess to others that it wasn’t Tomlin that was on the field of play throwing the bad picks or losing fumbles, it wasn’t Mike Tomlin that was missing tackles or taking really stupid penalties. I would point out that Pittsburgh under Mike Tomlin had made the playoffs six of his first nine seasons and along the way had made two Super Bowl appearances (with one win). I would wonder out loud, “What more do these people want?”
I don’t think that way anymore. There are only four teams in the AFC North and one of those teams is the pitiful Cleveland Brownies who are 0-10 straight up this season and since the start of the 2010 season are now a woeful 28-78 straight up overall. Baltimore is another resident of the AFC North. Since the start of the 2012 season, the Ravens are only 43-36 straight up overall for a win rate of only 54.4 percent. Yet over this span, they are 7-3 straight up versus Pittsburgh.
Cincinnati is the final resident of the AFC North and they have been pretty good over the same span. Since the start of the 2012 season, the Bengals have posted an overall mark of 46-29-2 straight up which is a win rate of 61.3 percent. However, Pittsburgh has had the Bengals number as evidenced by defeating Cincinnati straight up in seven of their last 10 meetings. The point of the matter is that of the four teams residing in the AFC North, both Cleveland and Baltimore have been on a downturn over the past four plus seasons while Cincinnati has played extremely well but can’t beat Pittsburgh. Yet with all the talent that Pittsburgh has on their roster, which is certainly the best in the AFC North, last year Pittsburgh would have missed the playoffs if not for the Jets choking and losing 17-22 to Buffalo in week 17. That would have meant the Steelers not making the playoffs in three of the last four seasons.
To date the Steelers have only won one divisional title since 2012 and with all of their talent are a mediocre 42-34 straight up for a win rate of 55.3 percent and are a less then shoddy 17-21 straight up in road games over this same span, and once again, these results are from a superior team with superior talent that has resided in a rather weak division.
Bill Cowher handed over the keys to a Ferrari that had just won a Super Bowl. Tomlin was able to make two Super Bowl appearances within his first five years on the job and during that time posted an overall mark of 55-25 straight up. However, most of the players that Cowher left on the roster were gone after the first five seasons of Tomlin’s watch and since that point in time Tomlin has amassed a mediocre record of 41-32 straight up which includes two 8-8 seasons and of course here we sit in 2016 with a current mark of 5-5.
Sorry, Mr. Tomlin, but this is my stop. Here is where I get off. Continuity only makes sense when what you are doing is successful, and has Tomlin himself likes to say “The standard is the standard.” Sorry for the rant my friends, but I definitely needed to get that off my chest!
James Campbell is a resident of Dunbar.