The Pittsburgh Steelers once again lost in the playoffs to end their season, and fans' frustrations are growing. They feel like this once proud franchise no longer values championships and instead has become complacent, happy with non-losing seasons. Fans have long placed the brunt of the blame for postseason failure on Head Coach Mike Tomlin. However, as years continue to tick off without a playoff win, they are beginning to accuse team President Art Rooney II of not running the team as well as his father did.
Former NFL General Manager Doug Whaley recently spoke with the 93.7 The Fan Morning Show about the state of the team. Whaley was the Steelers' pro personnel coordinator for a decade in the early 2000s, and he offers unique insight into team operations. He feels if Pittsburgh wants to get back to winning Lombardi Trophies, Rooney, Tomlin, and current General Manager Omar Khan have to all get on the same page.
Whaley was there when they won their last two Super Bowls and said they have to operate in lockstep toward the same vision. When he was with the team, their motto was "internal debate, external unity." They might disagree, but when they faced the public, they all sent the same message. He was asked if behind doors leadership admits this team isn't close to winning a Super Bowl. Whaley believes they don't use those words, they look at it from the standpoint of what they need to do to win playoff games, which is the problem.
"That, to me, is a flawed way of thinking," admitted Whaley. "The thinking should be, 'Let's build a championship competing team. A team that can consistently compete for championships.' When it comes down to it, here's the biggest issue: the Rooney's and Mike Tomlin fear taking a step back to take three steps forward. That's it. They don't want to have a losing season, and I don't think it's Tomlin because of the moniker of having no losing seasons. It's just the competitor in him and the Rooney's saying, 'We're a gold star franchise; we don't lose, we don't have losing seasons.' That moniker that they like to live up to is impeding them to be able to say let's start building for a championship. It's pride."
When asked about the postseason failure, Tomlin acknowledged the team is getting the same results despite trying to adjust. Rooney told the media after the 2023 season that the continued losses weren't acceptable. Yet most fans feel not enough has changed. They think Tomlin refuses to hire more progressive coordinators because he doesn't want to be threatened by his staff.
However, Rooney has shown no signs of willingness to part with Tomlin, even extending his contract before the 2024 season. Rooney may feel inextricably linked to Tomlin, as if his success as an owner is tied to his head coach's. With Rooney is likely planning to hand the team over to his son Daniel Rooney in the next couple of years, he might be hoping to end on a high note.
Steelers' Mike Tomlin Displayed Unusual Hypocrisy
Tomlin is well known for all of his quippy sayings, which he uses as a means of not directly answering media questions. One of those is about the refusal of the team to live in their fears. His former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger recently said that he believes Tomlin did just that during the end of the 2024 season. He said all that talk about not blinking and cutting their eyelids off and Tomlin seemed to do the opposite.
Roethlisberger spoke about the recent Wild Card loss to the Baltimore Ravens, saying when they realized they weren't able to stop the opposing offense or move the ball down the field, they should have done everything they could, pulled out all the stops. Tomlin always points out how the playoffs are single elimination, yet he played like he was scared.
