While former Pittsburgh Steelers players such as Plaxico Burress and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark
suggested after Pittsburgh’s latest playoff defeat that the club moving on from head coach Mike Tomlin might be the right move for everybody involved, team owner and president Art Rooney II insisted earlier this week that he is “not concerned about [Tomlin’s] message” because “the players still want to play for Mike.”
During a recent appearance on Pittsburgh sports radio station 93.7 The Fan, Steelers and NFL reporter/analyst Aditi Kinkhabwala of CBS Sports addressed Rooney’s comments.
“I’m not surprised by Art’s answer,” Kinkhabwala explained, as shared by Matthew Marczi of Steelers Depot. “I also think that he probably is right that guys still listen to what Tomlin is saying. They still want to rally and fight for him. His message might be resonating, but sometimes I wonder if it’s the wrong message. They’re listening, they’re bought into what he’s saying but he’s not saying the thing that’s going to make them get better.”
There weren’t many concerns among fans about whether or not Tomlin’s messaging was still resonating with his players when Pittsburgh entered Week 15 this past December at 10-3. However, the Steelers then dropped their final four regular-season games before they were essentially along for the ride in what became a 28-14 wild-card playoff loss at the Baltimore Ravens.
Tomlin’s Steelers haven’t recorded a postseason win since the 2016 campaign. Without directly saying so, Kinkhabwala hinted the one-time Super Bowl champion head coach hasn’t adequately adapted to what the NFL is today compared to where the league was roughly 10 years ago.
“It’s like he’s studying for the test, but he’s studying the wrong material,” Kinkhabwala added about Tomlin’s playoff woes. “I think that he’s still charismatic, he’s still a player’s coach, but it feels like he’s teaching from old material and that makes it difficult to keep these guys engaged and seeing results.”
Eventually, the fact that Tomlin hasn’t had a losing season since he accepted the Steelers job in 2007 won’t be enough for Rooney to stick with the 52-year-old. Unless Tomlin and the Pittsburgh front office land an upgrade at quarterback between the start of the new league year in March and the end of training camp, the Steelers may remain in a so-called “football purgatory” through at least next January.
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