Tim Benz: Try as he might, Mike Tomlin can't 'tote those bags' of playoff frustration for all of his players
Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t want his players carrying the burden of the franchise’s seven-year playoff-win drought.
“What you mentioned is my story, it’s not this collective’s story,” Tomlin said Monday. “Many of these guys involved do not tote those bags. I happily tote those bags. It’s not something that I’m going to project on the collective.”
To a large extent, that’s true. Very few players on the team have been around for all of — or even most of — those seven seasons.
There’s an element of self-fulfilling prophecy to that, I suppose. If a franchise doesn’t win a playoff game over roughly the course of two Olympic cycles, it’s not going to retain many players on that roster.
Normally, the coach wouldn’t survive under those circumstances that long either. But, as we all know, for better and for worse, the Steelers view the concept of stability at the head coaching position differently.
Sort of implied in placing a premium on that head coaching stability is the suggestion you want to keep things in place because there’s a large degree of success the organization is attempting to sustain.
That said, most people define success as something more than nine or 10 wins per year and the occasional first-round playoff beatdown.
But I digress.
Tomlin’s comments are noble, and, quite honestly, I think he even actually believes them. I don’t think he was spewing that line just to get through a soundbite.
A quality coach wants to take on the responsibility of past failures and deflect any blame away from the players. That’s what leadership is.
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Well-intended as Tomlin’s message is, though, it’s unfortunately not true. For as much as the coach doesn’t want his players to “tote those bags,” his most important men on the roster obviously have their own luggage heading into this postseason.
Four-time All-Pro linebacker T.J. Watt was drafted the year the playoff-victory drought started. He’s 30 and has yet to experience a playoff win.
Cameron Heyward is 35. He came into the NFL in 2011, one year after the Steelers’ last trip to the Super Bowl. Not only did he miss that, but then, because of an injury in 2016, he was sidelined for the team’s two playoff wins that year. So, the only time Heyward was on the field for a playoff victory was in Cincinnati after the 2015 regular season.
Chris Boswell and Minkah Fitzpatrick have been around since 2015 and 2019, respectively. Fitzpatrick is a Pro Bowler who has also never enjoyed a playoff win here. Starting linebacker Alex Highsmith is wrapping up his fifth season without seeing the second round. Tight end Pat Freiermuth can say the same thing four years into his career.
It’s not just the players. General Manager Omar Khan has been a Steelers employee since 2001. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin joined the coaching staff in 2019.
Not to mention the team’s owner, Art Rooney II.
Yeah. There are plenty of bags taking up space around the Steelers facility. Not just the ones in Tomlin’s office. For as much as the head coach would like to lug them all on their behalf, they are all saddled with their own personal carry-ons.
“I’m confident,” Heyward insisted in the wake of Saturday’s loss to Cincinnati. “I’m very confident in the group. As a professional, you work your butt off to be ready week in and week out. There is belief in the group. That’s all that matters.”
That 19-17 defeat to the Bengals ended the Steelers’ regular season on a four-game losing streak. They are wheezing into the playoffs with a first-round challenge looming in Baltimore on Saturday night. The Ravens are 9.5-point favorites.
From the standpoint of stats and individual accolades, Heyward’s career has ascended beyond the likes of his predecessors at defensive end, Brett Keisel and Aaron Smith. At his position, he is in the stratosphere of Dwight White and L.C. Greenwood.
The same can be said about Watt as opposed to Joey Porter, James Harrison, or Boswell, in comparison to Jeff Reed. Fitzpatrick isn’t in Troy Polamalu’s range. Who knows, though, if he had a few more chances to shine in the postseason, maybe he’d at least be in Polamalu’s shadow.
The problem is, with minimal playoff accolades — let alone Super Bowl rings — their names may not resonate with the same level of adoration that some of those guys have.
“We take this very seriously, week-in and week-out,” Watt said last week. “We’re not happy with the performances that we’ve had. We have the talent. We have the coaching staff. We have the belief in this room that we can be a great defense. We can be a great team as a unit.”
Hopefully, Watt’s right. Because if an eighth straight year ends without a playoff victory, the Steelers are going to need to hire a few valets to tote all of that baggage out to Saint Vincent College to open training camp next summer.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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