Mike Tomlin and Deion Sanders are future and current Hall of Fame football talents who are both loved and criticized by many.
While Tomlin didn’t have the playing career of Sanders, his coaching resume is one of the greatest in NFL history, and he will be enshrined in Canton when he decides to retire his headset.
But in his 18th season with the Steelers, and Pittsburgh having a season that many didn’t see coming (except those of us who know better), that will be a while.
This season, after hiring Arthur Smith as offensive coordinator, Omar Khan proving his mastery of drafting and trading and making the controversial decision of switching from Justin Fields, who was 4-2, to Russell Wilson, who’s now 3-0, Tomlin has the team at 7-2 with a huge battle against their archrival Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
Suddenly, the media is finally talking about Tomlin as the NFL Coach of the Year.
“I’m old enough to remember, I don’t know, two years ago, when folks in Pittsburgh wanted Mike Tomlin out of there. We heard ‘fire Mike Tomlin!’ left and right,” said ESPN’s Get Up host Mike Greenberg on Monday morning. “Listen, Mike Tomlin is coach of the year in the NFL right now, and that’s it. That’s the end of the conversation.
“No one is doing more with less than Mike Tomlin. No one is coaching a team better than Mike Tomlin is coaching.”
That’s a true and long-deserved statement regarding a coach who has been praised and criticized for his performance, never having a losing season and general playoff futility.
Tomlin is currently 180-102-2 in his tenure with the Steelers and ranks second behind Andy Reid (26 years; 267-144-1) in wins by active coaches.
He has led the Steelers through years of bad quarterback play after the Ben Roethlisberger era, a slew of injuries and the reluctance of former GM Kelvin Colbert to adapt to the change in NFL gameplay.
But in two years under Khan, the team has become a legitimate playoff team and, if things continue moving in the current direction, a Super Bowl contender.
The same is true for Deion Sanders at Colorado, a man who has faced his share of doubt and criticism.
