Mike Tomlin, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ head coach, inherited a Super Bowl-winning squad from two years prior. No one is happier to remind everyone of this truth than his naysayers, but we must also acknowledge the unavoidable complexity of a team transitioning away from a franchise quarterback.
Tomlin had never steered the ship through such waters before. For 15 years, he could count on Ben Roethlisberger to deliver a baseline level of performance. And we should think about this offseason’s moves in light of the new perspective that comes with ambiguity.
When looking for a franchise quarterback, like Tomlin, you have to take more swings. And, inevitably, you’ll sniff more often as you swing more regularly, which means you’ll move on more often. You’ll make mistakes that you’ll remedy faster because you don’t have a quarterback to cover up your flaws. Especially when the quarterback position is a major source of these deficiencies.
“I think what he says, how he says it, and his actions all suggest to me this recognition that he has done some things wrong and the organisation has done some things wrong recently,” Brooke Pryor told Rany Baumann on the DVE morning show yesterday. “I believe that is something we haven’t seen him state, either in his words or in his actions in recent years.”
Naturally, the Steelers have made some drastic moves this offseason under Tomlin, most involving the quarterbacks. But then again, Tomlin’s Steelers have never been in this boat before. You stop looking for a quarterback when you have one, but when you don’t have one, you Never stop looking.
Of course, Tomlin also made the mistake of retaining Matt Canada as offensive coordinator. The reasoning at the time was to provide Kenny Pickett with some year-to-year consistency. That plan didn’t really work, considering they fired him mid-season – a clear admission of a mistake.
“The way he recognizes things and brings in Arthur Smith for his football vision, like he said today, and brings in (Justin) Fields and Russell Willson and trades Kenny Pickett, it’s like if he had recognized that this organization needed a fresh start offensively,” Pryor said of Tomlin. “They figured out the defense. There are a few holes to plug, but the defense is pretty good.”
By the way, the inside linebacker position is another one that has been a revolving door for years. They hope to have solved that problem as well this offseason with Patrick Queen, the largest free agent in team history in terms of total compensation and average annual salary.
We must also acknowledge the impact of a shakeup in the front office during the last two years. Omar Khan replaced Kevin Colbert, the Steelers’ semi-retired general manager, but much else has changed. For starters, they established the assistant general manager position to hire Andy Weidl, something they had never had previously.
Previously, when there had a franchise quarterback, Tomlin emphasised sticking the course and capitalising on his talents. In today’s world, he recognises the value of early detection; if something isn’t working, do something about it. Your margin for error is too little to believe that stability will solve everything.
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