NFL News Mike Tomlin stepping down

[Pape]

Well, we could always count on them being mediocre under Tomlin. God forbid the Rooneys hire someone decent.

mediocre? he was a little bit better than that...

dude is a dink, no doubt about it... but its kinda an impressive coaching feat to never have a losing season...

 

[Pape]

Of course he was fired. You don't actually fire a coach who has been your head coach for two decades unless he refuses to leave voluntarily. This was a firing where they allowed Tomlin to save face.

then why couch it as "hes stepping away" which infers the decision was made on his own volition? eh i was just pointing out the obvious because no one else said it...

the word games aren't necessary

 

[Clonamery]

Anyone else thinking that he did not step down voluntarily?

imo, the Rooneys told him it was time... Gave him the option to step down instead of firing him...

The steelers maintained a level of success over the years, but that will take you only so far... haven't won a playoff game in what, a decade?

Just do the opposite of what Aaron Rodgers thinks.

 

[Zuma]

I think some of these firings are the owners seeing the Patriots win a playoff game with 1st year Patriots HC Mike Vrabel and they lose their sh!t.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Ya think we'll get an internal AFCN coaching carousel?

 

[Rob0729]

then why couch it as "hes stepping away" which infers the decision was made on his own volition? eh i was just pointing out the obvious because no one else said it...

the word games aren't necessary

The same reason when CEOs of companies are fired, they always resign or retire and are never actually fired. It is just a courtesy to avoid embarrassment even though everyone knows it is a firing.

 

[sb1]

They probably gave him the courtesy to let him save face.

It was time.

 

[varjao]

Well I thought it was a dry market for HC's for teams moving on from their Ex's but Harbaugh and now Tomlin available certainly makes it an interesting one because they are big names and will get years of stability wherever they land.

 

[patfanken]

A VERY good but not great HC. Tomlin had a lot of great skills as a HC. Important ones you HAVE to have. He had world class leadership skills The ability to manage not only the locker room, but the building as well. And he did it well for a VERY long time. What he wasn't world class in was the more technical side of the game. Game planning, game management and strategy. It's not like he was bad at it; he just never brought to the table the kind of skills you see with Shanahan or saw with BB. Marry Tomlin's leadership skills to Josh's offensive genius, and you'd have the uber HC.

That's why Josh isn't going anywhere. He found out that after 2 tries, he just doesn't have the kind of "presence" in front of room that can mobilize them in a common purpose through thick and thin. He had 2 tries and they turned out to be bad experiences for him. Bad experiences for his wife. And bad experiences for his kids. There is a point in time when ego has to bow to happiness, and fortunately for us, it is in Westwood, and being an OC for the best QB prospect in the league.

 

[203Pat]

It is difficult to have winning seasons without a QB.

I agree. I never thought much of Tomlin for a long time. I always said he did "less with more" when he had rosters with some of the guys who were the best if not top 3 at their position all at the same time. It turns out those guys were complete maniacs and egotistical monsters and Tomlin was able to keep them at bay and have them in contention in the AFC every year while dealing with them behind the scenes. In the post-Big Ben/AB/Bell era they started to cut bait a little earlier on guys who were talented but also a pain in the ass (Claypool and Pickens) but never really found the guy after Roethlisberger and Tomlin still managed to be a fringe playoff team many of those years.

What Tomlin did was what kind of annoyed me with Bill down the stretch. He seemed to worry about his own records and legacy more than what was best for the long term future of the team. Patching it together with washed up veterans and with a whiff on a mid-first round QB in the mix. Instead of ripping the band-aid off and doing a full rebuild he wanted to build a patchwork roster through free agency and not selling high on any assets on the roster that could fuel the rebuild.

 

[Ross12]

Ya think we'll get an internal AFCN coaching carousel?

I thought about that... Harbaugh to the Steelers, Stefanski to the Ravens... I doubt it though, I don't think Harbaugh wants to go to the Steelers or Browns. I could see Stefanski on the Ravens or Steelers though, maybe.

 

[Ross12]

I think some of these firings are the owners seeing the Patriots win a playoff game with 1st year Patriots HC Mike Vrabel and they lose their sh!t.

And Ben Johnson on the Browns EDIT: BEARS (oops - thanks @DaBruinz) too. A lot of first year coaching success between the Pats and Bears, although the Pats turnaround is much more significant.

Sure is turning out to be a blood bath of a year for coach firings, which is very unexpected, since there's so few good candidates. What is it now, 9 head coach openings? There's nowhere near 9 good candidates.

 

[203Pat]

Seems like kind of a ****ty thing to do to a guy who was your coach for 20 years. Hold him hostage and potentially limit his market to get a draft pick.

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

Damn... Now the Steelers might actually be a threat again.

 

[DaBruinz]

Not as a knowledgeable analyst, but as a personality.

Tomlin has a personality?

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Seems like kind of a ****ty thing to do to a guy who was your coach for 20 years. Hold him hostage and potentially limit his market to get a draft pick.

Isn’t that effectively what the Saints did to Sean Payton too?

 

[DaBruinz]

And Ben Johnson on the Browns BEARS too. A lot of first year coaching success between the Pats and Bears, although the Pats turnaround is much more significant.

Sure is turning out to be a blood bath of a year for coach firings, which is very unexpected, since there's so few good candidates. What is it now, 9 head coach openings? There's nowhere near 9 good candidates.

FIFY

 

[203Pat]

Isn’t that effectively what the Saints did to Sean Payton too?

Yeah think they got a first rounder and maybe a second.

 

[Borg140]

Per Reddit, there is a certain irony in the fact that the only AFC North coach to survive this season was Bengals coach Zac Taylor.

If the owner wasn’t Mike Brown , he probably would have been fired as well.

 

[fnordcircle]

his dislike for the pats on the openmic in the locker room.

If I wasn't a Patriots' fan I would be a complete ****ing fulltime Patriots hater.

In fact, the only reason I'm a fan is because 10 year old me decided to watch a football game and when I turned it on the Patriots were losing so I decided to root for the team that was losing. If the Dolphins were losing I'd be a goddamn Phins fan right now. I was far too contrarian to ever just root for the hometeam. I'd bulldoze Fenway day 1 if I won the presidency.

But seriously - I don't know how anyone could struggle to understand how ****ing annoying our team has been for a while now. Just winning **** with a prick of a head coach and an insane water scientologist NFL Tom Cruise.