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It may be a hard pill to swallow Patriots fans, but Mike Tomlin has done everything Bill Belichick couldn’t do after Tom Brady left.
Tomlin – who has never had a losing season in his 17 years as as the head coach of the Steelers – has been able to keep Pittsburgh afloat and regularly in the hunt after Ben Roethlisberger departed. The Steelers’ franchise has had just seven losing seasons since 1980. SEVEN in 43 years. New England has had three in the last four years.
Is Mike Tomlin better than Bill Belichick? No, but the Steelers system has certainly proven to be more sustainable than what Bill Belichick has been doing. Tomlin and the Steelers have been the epitome of consistency for two-plus decades now and really, for the last 50 years if you want to go back even further.
Does Tomlin have as many titles as Belichick? Nope. Did the Steelers ever beat the Pats in a big game when Brady was around? Nope, but Tomlin has still been able to keep the Steelers relevant every single year, no matter what situations ultimately pop up during the season. Clearly, the same can’t be said for the organization in Foxborough.
On Wednesday afternoon before the Patriots flew out to Pittsburgh for Thursday’s game, Belichick expressed his great respect for the Steelers’ organization and Tomlin.
“Yeah, a ton of respect for Mike and the Steelers program,” he said. “They’ve been very consistent, you know, through the years. I mean, they’re pretty good every year. Sometimes great, sometimes just pretty good. Here they’re again this year. They’re right there. They’re a good, solid team. They don’t make a lot of mistakes. They’re not a heavily penalized team. They don’t turn the ball over a lot. They do a good job of taking the ball away. They’re a good, fundamental team. You’ve got to go out there and play a good football game to beat them. For the most part, they very seldom make bad plays and mistakes that just cost their team the game. You’ve got to go out there and play really well to beat them.
“They do a good job of that. They’ve got a really good field goal kicker. They’ve been in a lot of close games. They’ve won most of them this year. That’s a sign of, you know, a team that’s well-balanced and can make the plays they need to make in critical situations to win.”
When you’re watching the game Thursday as the 2-10 Patriots fizzle out down the stretch, across the way will be the model of consistency for the NFL in 2023.
As hard as it may be to admit for some diehard New England fans, you’re better off being the Steelers right now than the Pats’ and it’s pretty indisputable.