Former Steelers QB Praises Mike Tomlin’s Coaching in 2023

The Steelers sit at 3-2 and are ready to come out of their bye week following the 17-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens last week. While the bye week gives Pittsburgh time to shuffle the deck and get charged up for the second half of the season, the team has somehow clawed out those three wins despite less-than-stellar play. So, when FOX’s panel of analysts decided which coaches were worthy of praise for their job this season, Mike Tomlin received that praise from Michael Vick.

“I’m going with Mike Tomlin,” Vick said. “It’s been 16 years of consistency, signature win last week over the Baltimore Ravens. Everything was saying to fire their offensive coordinator, but Mike Tomlin and the team took it upon themselves on defense to get the job done. Then, Kenny Pickett and the guys followed. It goes to show that guys will run through a wall for Mike T. I’m been in that locker room, a true leader of men, and one of the game’s greatest of coaches like a Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick, or Andy Reid, so I have to give him his flowers.”

In the panel published on Wednesday, which ranked all 32 head coaches in the NFL for 2023, Tomlin was ranked behind only Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs and Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers. It has been a while since the Steelers were at the top of the NFL, with the club’s last Super Bowl win coming in 2008 and its last appearance after the 2010 season. 

Though Tomlin’s teams failed to capitalize on the end of Ben Roethlisberger’s career, despite significant contributions from Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, his recent work may have been some of his best, as Tomlin dragged under-talented Steelers teams to winning records despite an injury Roethlisberger in 2019 and an unsettled quarterback situation in 2022.

Tomlin’s 166 career wins rank him 16th in NFL history and third among active coaches behind Reid and Bill Belichick. Of post-merger coaches with at least 100 wins, he’s seventh in winning percentage. He is still a highly effective NFL coach but has apparent flaws. Somehow, his team is 3-2 despite playing like a group that is much worse than that.