The Steelers’ polarizing head coach was named a top five head coach by PFF
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is one of the most polarizing figures in sports. One side of the aisle will talk about the fact that he’s a Super Bowl-winning head coach and has never had a losing season. The other side will point to his 8-11 postseason record and the fact that the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in eight years as reasons why a change should have been made at head coach.
Dalton Wasserman of PFF seems to fall on the former of those two sides, as he ranked Tomlin as the fifth-best returning head coach in the NFL, behind only Andy Reid, Sean Payton, Sean McVay, and John Harbaugh.
“Despite recent criticism about a lack of playoff success, Mike Tomlin still finds a way to squeeze every ounce of execution out of his teams,” Wasserman writes. “He still has yet to go through a losing campaign across 18 seasons as Pittsburgh’s head coach, though there have certainly been close calls. Making the postseason in 2024 despite a turbulent quarterback situation is an impressive feat. The Steelers’ identity, though, is their defense, which played at an elite level once again in 2024. They ranked fourth in PFF defensive grade and first in PFF pass-rush grade, led by future Hall of Famers T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward. They could use the occasional spurt of offense, though, as they went 8-0 when allowing 18 points or fewer and 2-8 when they allowed 19 or more.”
The top 10 returning head coaches in the NFL today pic.twitter.com/eCEDHdKXjF
— PFF (@PFF) June 25, 2025
Tomlin is the longest-tenured head coach in the NFL, but does he deserve to be ranked that high, considering so many other coaches have had long-term playoff success in the span of his last playoff win? Many would argue no.