Unpopular Opinion: Mike Tomlin does not have unlimited power with the Steelers
When the Pittsburgh Steelers are in the dreaded long offseason, there are plenty of ideas to debate. As part of the triumphant trio on the Steelers Preview podcast, I’ve been known to often give a “Dave answer“ to various things as I often like to argue both sides of an issue. With this in mind, a new weekly segment has been born… Unpopular opinion.
There are plenty of arguments both for and against the Pittsburgh Steelers that might not go along with the majority of fans. Oftentimes I believe in these arguments, while other times I simply like to pose a counter argument for ones that are taking it too much to the extreme. For this reason, I’m going to offer some points about the Pittsburgh Steelers that go against the general fan narrative, or at least how I have heard things.
Next up is looking at who is really in charge of what with the Pittsburgh Steelers…
Mike Tomlin does not have unlimited power with the Steelers
Often times it’s difficult to discern whether Steelers fans are trolling or if they truly are complaining by trying to blame head coach Mike Tomlin for every little thing. Yes, he’s the head coach and in charge of a lot of operations, but finding a way to bring it back to complain about him is either an ongoing joke of seeing how outlandish something could be turned on the head coach or just the way some fans think. The punter gets rolled up on in the first game and is out for the season… “That’s because Mike Tomlin let him down.”
As outlandish is that seems, it’s out there in the digital world to see that these are the kind of things that are said. And while the Steelers head coach should be nowhere close to beyond criticism for things he is responsible for, that doesn’t mean that everything is his responsibility. In fact, Mike Tomlin doesn’t have the all-encompassing power with everything within the Steelers organization that some make him out to have.
You don’t like the Steelers throwback uniforms? It’s Mike Tomlin’s fault.
You don’t like the time of the kickoff on game day? That’s got to be Mike Tomlin’s fault.
How come at the stadium I have to go down three concession stands to find the right nachos? How can Mike Tomlin let this happen?
I know I’m going to extreme to make a point, but sometimes you have to look at the ridiculousness of the extremes to see how far the normal line has been moved in that direction.
There is a lot of things within the Steelers organization that Mike Tomlin is not solely responsible for. He is not the one compiling all the data and solely making the decision about Steelers draft picks. Yes, he’s part of the equation, but I wouldn’t even put him as the man in charge. Just seeing how the philosophy in the draft has changed when going from one general manager to the other is evidence that it’s not 100% what Mike Tomlin wants going on with the evaluations and who is selected.
When it comes to active players, Mike Tomlin is once again part of the equation when it comes to acquiring free agents or keeping players on the team with new contracts, but he’s probably not even the majority stakeholder in the process. There are plenty of constraints when it comes to salary and things of this nature which Tomlin doesn’t really have any part of.
One that many fans think is completely Mike Tomlin yet I’m coming to believe it’s not nearly as much is his coaching staff. There is plenty of evidence to show that Mike Tomlin does not have the control to always bring in the coaches he wants, and especially to move on from those that he does not.
To site a specific example, there was a lot going on with the Steelers making the unprecedented decision for them to move on from a coordinator during the season when Matt Canada was fired in 2023. What did a lot of Steelers fans do? They claimed Mike Tomlin continued to hold onto him until Art Rooney told him it was time to move on. From what I’ve pieced together from information from some very reliable sources, it was the exact opposite. In fact, there’s a lot of debate over Mike Tomlin not wanting Matt Canada in the first place, but the Steelers organization coming out of the year with no fans in the stands did not wish to invest significant money into a higher quality offensive coordinator at that time. That’s part of the reason why it took the Steelers forever to make the announcement that offseason.
Another example which I think really shows where the power lies when it comes to moving on from coaches is the words from both Mike Tomlin and Art Rooney II following the 2024 season. In his end of the year press conference, Mike Tomlin talked about making significant changes and acknowledged that included the coaching staff. Yet when the team president spoke later, he said there would be some minor changes here and there but wouldn’t be any large changes and both coordinators would be returning. What ended up happening?
Of course, there will be plenty of Steelers fans who wants to say that it’s because Mike Tomlin said one thing while doing another. But based on the rumblings I’ve heard from Steelers insiders, that wasn’t the case. As it’s been well documented, the Steelers very rarely fire a coach but simply let their contract expire. Of the coaches that needed to move on after 2024, they were still under contract so therefore they stayed. Not one single coach who is under contract was let go. Sorry, but that screams Art Rooney.
So there are plenty of aspects within the Steelers that don’t fall under what Mike Tomlin has full rain over. He’s part of the process with acquiring players and compiling a coaching staff, but ultimately he does not have the ability two open up the finances in acquiring coaches. If you don’t think that’s true, look up the salary of the Steelers defensive coordinator and you would be shocked when compared to the rest of the NFL. The Steelers aren’t gonna get any better coaches if they’re not going to pay them.
I also found it interesting last offseason how Art Rooney II said on multiple occasions that the offensive coordinator was “Mike’s hire.” There were plenty who just dismissed this is how things were. Personally, I think he went out of his way to say it because not only was it true, it wasn’t how it was typically done. I don’t think the previous coordinators were all Tomlin’s choice.
The other part of this that I find amusing is where Mike Tomlin ultimately has authority, and should have authority, Steelers fans complain that he’s exercising too much authority. I’ve already covered this issue when I talked about Mike Tom not being a micromanager. He has full rain over the operations on the field and game plans of the Pittsburgh Steelers. That actually is his job. Being the head coach, he has a hand in everything and ultimate say in what goes down. For some reason, people want to complain that he does and that he’s doing too much when really he’s doing what he supposed to do, which is not anything out of the ordinary. So when Tomlin “went rogue” and started Russell Wilson over Justin Fields in Week 7, that is the kind of thing he does have all-encompassing power to do.
While I’ve said a lot of things as definitive statements, please remember the title of this article is unpopular opinion. It is my opinion that Mike Tomlin does not have the all-encompassing power when it comes to the draft, free agency, or the coaching staff that some fans believe he does. I’ve based my opinion off of the evidence over the last several years. This does not mean that Mike Tomlin is doing a fantastic job at the things he is supposed to be overseeing, but finding any little thing that goes on with the Steelers and somehow bringing it back to Mike Tomlin being the problem isn’t always accurate.
Mike Tomlin needs criticism where he deserves it. Criticizing things that aren’t actually him makes it seems like there’s an ulterior motive.
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Thank you for this article because I have these same feelings. Now that its draft season I will use a perfect example… If it’s a pick someone likes they’ll say “Khan and Weidl hit it out the park!”, but if it’s someone they don’t like they’ll say “phhh… Typical Tomlin pick.”
Don’t get me wrong, he does have his faults and as you said, deserves criticism, by my goodness… Some people think he runs the entire operation.
Exactly. You got the point!
Can’t help it, I was a Mike Tomlin supporter for most of his time with the Steelers, but have come to associate anything fresh or new with Khan and Weidl, and everything that is stale and stodgy with the owner and the head coach.
The low NFLPA grades, the undersized coaching staff, the well-connected, under qualified (Fichtner, Canada and the BC and Maryland network) hires and eight years of consistently Schottenheimer-like strategies that lose big without a struggle have ruined my appetite for Kool-Aid.
Still excited for the draft and always hopeful, but I won’t be able to say I’m confident until I see the Steelers show up for a playoff game, and I’ve come to question whether the current leadership is capable.
And you have every right to do so! While you can’t argue the fact the Steelers have been in or on the cusp of the playoffs for over 2 decades, you also can’t argue the fact they haven’t won a playoff game in 8 seasons. There can be both praise and criticism.
Which NFLPA grades are you referring to? My reading is the head coach received a very high grade. Yet the Steelers struggled in areas the head coach does not have control over (e.g., locker room renovations, nutrition and strength training hires, etc.).
That’s why I mentioned the owner and the head coach. The owner is viewed by players as cheap and aloof. The head coach is liked by players but can’t assemble a top staff and has repeatedly failed to prepare his team to compete in big games. And Tomlin hired the strength coach from BC, where his son played, and the Steelers rating for strength training dropped to last in the NFL.
Fair enough, and I think criticizing Rooney is eminently fair.
Lumping Tomlin in with Rooney and saying the “owner and the head coach” as a bloc as contrasted to “Kahn and Weidl” doesn’t really hold up, though.
The critique of Mike hiring a Strength Trainer (which probably *was* his call) that he knew from BC is fair. But most of the issues referenced in the NFLPA and elsewhere are NOT his call, so it isn’t really fair to lump all of those in with Mike’s one call (which may have been constrained by budget, I don’t know) and say that is the “ownership and head coach.”
When you perform mental gymnastics like that, you are doing exactly what Dave is talking about here — blaming all of the Steelers’ failures on the HC (and owner) and giving all the credit to the GM and personnel department.
Like Dave, I see flaws in Tomlin’s approach, and I don’t think he should be above criticism for them, but so many of the criticisms of Tomlin are knee-jerk frustration reactions that don’t hold up to analysis.
Well done, Dave.
There is reasonable evidence that the Steelers do not pay assistants well. Would a head coach ever want fewer resources to hire their supporting cast? Never. So this is a decision made from higher up.
The NFLPA report card support your case, too. Players rated the owner’s desire to win poorly, and in areas of discretionary spending (e.g., strength training and nutrition staff, weight room, etc.), the Steelers scored among the worst in the league. Players see the behind the scene behaviors and actions — and their anonymous report said that, but for Tomlin, the Steelers would be the worst managed organization in the NFL.
Sit with that for a moment: But for Mike Tomlin, players in the NFL see the Steelers as the worst run franchise in the NFL.
The implications of your argument are significant: instead of wrongly criticizing Tomlin for the ways AR2 is holding the franchise back, fans should be praising Tomlin for winning in an unfavorable environment.
Spot on.
But consider how poorly prepared the Steelers have appeared to be in their last six playoff games, the conservative game plans, the under aggressive play calling . . . Art Rooney is a potted plant as owners go, but I can’t hold him responsible for the team repeatedly going down in the clutch without throwing a punch.
And I think *this* is a fair critique.
Unpopular opinion: the offensive line is in good shape for 2025: the investment is there: 2 first round tackles, a 2nd round center who looks like a top 5 center already, a young guard with a motor and heart that can elevate his game, and a veteran in Seumalo. The investment is there. Investments take time to grow and pay off. 4 of 5 lineman have played 2 years in the nfl. I think they can take big strides next year