Ryan Clark Believes This Is a Crucial Season for Mike Tomlin
Former Steelers free safety Ryan Clark thinks a lot is riding on this season for Mike Tomlin. He has to show more than just winning seasons.
The Steelers have not won a playoff game in seven years, only eight teams in the NFL have a longer drought.
“I don’t think this is the year his streak ends, but I do think this is the year he has to prove to the entire world that he is the Hall of Fame coach I believe him to be,” Clark said on ESPN’s First Take. “This team has meandered around the 9-8 level where they can either just leak into the playoffs or find a way to get a spot in the Wild Card, but he has to show that, whether it’s Russell Wilson or it’s Justin Fields [at starting quarterback], that this team can actually be a competitor.”
The last time the Steelers had a 7-year playoff win drought was pre-1972, so it’s uncharted waters for the franchise. And it’s something that team president Art Rooney II is not happy about.
“We’ve had enough of this,” Rooney said earlier this offseason. “It’s time to get some wins; it’s time to take these next steps.”
During a NFL Live segment in May, Dan Graziano asked Ryan Clark if the Steelers will win over/under 10 wins this season, and he took the under.
“This is difficult because I believe the team is better. One, you get better when you hire Arthur Smith as the offensive coordinator. Some of the things that Omar Khan did during the offseason gives me optimism. But I’m saying less because of how daunting this schedule is toward the end of the season. That’s normally when we’ve seen the Pittsburgh Steelers, who find a way to playoff contention every year, get wins and find themselves in the playoffs as a wild card. But this year, I believe they’ll be figuring out who they are early with Russell Wilson, then transitioning to Justin Fields around the bye week and trying to face those six division opponents along with the Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs to finish, which will be difficult for any football team,” Clark told Graziano.
Tomlin, who has no losing seasons in his 17 years as the Steelers head coach, was signed to a three-year contract extension on June 10. Tomlin (173 career wins) is currently 20 wins behind Noll (193) for the franchise all-time record.
Seventeen years later, Steelers management is still thrilled by Tomlin’s poise, ideas, enthusiasm and coaching philosophies.
“The players still respond to Mike and that’s No. 1,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in January. “He still has the key characteristics that we saw when we hired him. He can keep the attention of a group of 20-year-olds for a whole season and keep them in the fight the whole way. Still feel good about Mike. Obviously, if I didn’t, we’d make change. If we didn’t think Mike was able to lead us to a championship, he wouldn’t be here. That’s why he’s here.”
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