With a new season about to begin, Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw renewed his public dislike for Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin this week.
During an interview with 97.3 The Fan, Bradshaw ripped Tomlin for the third time since December 2016, and this time, he criticized Tomlin because Steelers players don’t fear him.
“I played for a tough sucker, and I was afraid of him, and we played our ass off for him because we feared him. I don’t see that with this guy,” Bradshaw said. “He’s chest bumping and all that. I’m the head of the corporation, I’m the CEO, I’m the chairman of the board, I’m talking to the stockholders telling them here’s how we’re going to do at the end of the quarter. I’m selling this thing. And I’m not delivering the goods, which is championships. You’ve got to face the criticism.
“I’m sorry, but he’s not my kind of coach. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.”
Bradshaw went on to express other thoughts that actually were quite fair. He discussed how Tomlin, who is a defensive coach, has been unable to put together a good defense to compliment one of the best offenses in the league. If he had, Bradshaw says the Steelers would have won another Super Bowl.
The Hall of Fame quarterback was also critical of the Steelers home playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars and how the team fired offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Bradshaw argued he would have fired defensive coordinator Keith Butler after giving up 45 points to the Jaguars at home, rather than Haley, who engineered one of the best offenses in the league from 2012-17.
But Bradshaw suggesting Tomlin isn’t a good coach is asinine. Here’s why.
Why Terry Bradshaw’s Criticism of Mike Tomlin Is Off-Base
Mike Tomlin Is a Player’s Coach
First, let’s address Bradshaw’s initial comments that players don’t fear Tomlin. Fearing one’s coach is certainly the way the NFL worked in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, but it’s changed. Players make far more money and possess a lot more freedoms than they did 30 years ago.
The “my way or the highway” approach only works in one place right now – New England. It failed miserably for Greg Schiano in Tampa Bay and didn’t last long for other “tough guy coaches” such as Rex Ryan and Jim Schwartz.
Call it a millennial thing if you want, but today’s generation of players grew up in a different type of environment and don’t respond as well to harsh coaching. While Tomlin could handle distractions better, his style generally works in today’s game.
Just take a look at who has won the last 12 Super Bowls. For every hard-ass from the Bill Parcells coaching tree winning the title – Bill Belichick, Tom Coughlin, Sean Payton – there’s a more soft-spoken players coach capturing the Super Bowl – Tomlin, Tony Dungy, Pete Carroll, and Gary Kubiak.
Bradshaw’s argument would be stronger if he said Tomlin needs to be stricter to only some of his players. The book “The Ones Who Hit the Hardest” detailed Chuck Noll as a coach who treated all his players differently because he realized every player responded to different types of teaching. Noll treated Bradshaw harshly because that’s what his quarterback needed.
But to imply Tomlin’s style flat-out doesn’t work in the NFL is incorrect.
Detailing Tomlin’s Many Successes
Yes, it’s true. The Steelers haven’t won the Super Bowl in 10 years. That’s an eternity for Pittsburgh.
But sometimes it seems like fans forget that only one team can win the championship each year. With the New England Patriots representing the AFC in four of the last seven Super Bowls, it’s kind of hard to fault Tomlin for failing to break through. Lots of other good coaches – John Harbaugh, Mike McCarthy, Pete Carroll, Andy Reid – only have one Super Bowl victory or none in the last decade.
In the 11 years since Tomlin became the head coach in Pittsburgh, the Steelers have won 116 games. During the regular season, he’s posted a .659 win percentage and has added eight playoff victories.
The only coach with more wins since 2007 is Belichick. His career win percentage sits at .679, which isn’t all that much better than Tomlin’s.
And in terms of early career success, Tomlin has a leg up on Belichick. Tomlin has made the postseason in eight of his first 11 years. Belichick posted a .450 win percentage and made the playoffs once in five seasons with the Cleveland Browns from 1991-95.
It took Belichick until he was 62 to tie Noll’s record for Super Bowl victories. Tomlin is still only 46.
This isn’t to say there aren’t other coaches in the league as part of this recent new wave who are superior to Tomlin. Doug Pederson, Sean McVay, and others have an argument to be named over Tomlin in a preseason coaches power rankings.
But among the well-established guys, if one wants to argue Tomlin isn’t a good coach, then Belichick is the only good coach in the NFL.
Tomlin Needs Another Super Bowl to Truly Distinguish Himself
On the other hand, Tomlin is far from perfect. His sideline interference against the Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving in 2012 was an embarrassment. And as Bradshaw pointed out, his inability to put together a defense that can play anywhere close to championship level has prevented the Steelers from getting back to the Super Bowl with the Killer Bees on offense.
But so have other things, such as injuries to Le’Veon Bell in 2015 and during the playoffs in 2016, have contributed too. In 2015, the Steelers played the Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos without Bell and wide receiver Antonio Brown, and yet, held a lead on the road in the fourth quarter.
Last season’s debacle against the Jaguars was bad, but so was Belichick’s decision to bench Malcolm Butler in the Super Bowl. No coach is perfect.
And that’s really the biggest issue I have with the criticism, not just from Bradshaw, but of Tomlin overall. Comparing him to the greatest coaches ever isn’t really fair. If the Steelers fired Tomlin, they wouldn’t be able to reincarnate Noll or clone Belichick; they would be stuck with Jim Caldwell, Chuck Pagano or forced to search for the next hot coordinator.
Yes, it’s true. In order to be among the greats, Tomlin will have to win at least one more Super Bowl. But he’s already one of the top coaches in the NFL heading into 2018, and Bradshaw’s obsession with pointing out his faults has become downright strange.
