Three days after another dispiriting playoff loss ended another underwhelming Pittsburgh Steelers season, coach Mike Tomlin didn’t attempt to sugarcoat or justify the results, Crhis Adamski of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports..
“There’s football justice,” Tomlin said during his season wrap-up news conference at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “We’re here (at the end of a season), and we’re here for a very tangible reason.”
A five-game losing streak — including a dominating playoff loss to their biggest rivals — soured a season that at point showed great promise. The Steelers fell from 10-3 and in first place to 10-7 and a 28-14 wild-card playoff loss to the team that zoomed past them in the AFC North, the Baltimore Ravens.
It was the eighth consecutive Steelers season that ended without a playoff win and the fourth consecutive that finished with exactly nine or 10 wins. Four of the past five seasons have ended with a loss in a wild-card playoff game, the past three on the road.
It was enough for a reporter to ask Tomlin if he felt the organization was “stuck” in a malaise.
“‘Stuck’ is a helpless feeling. I don’t feel helpless,” Tomlin said. “I don’t know if I want to sell you an overly optimistic (tone) either.
“We certainly feel capable, but I’m not in the mood to sell optimism. That wouldn’t be appropriate.”
An increasing number of fans and media wondered aloud if it is appropriate to question Tomlin’s job security. Only four of Tomlin’s 18 seasons as Steelers coach have featured a playoff win, and he has only three such wins since a loss in Super Bowl XLV some 14 years ago. The Steelers haven’t won a division title since 2020.
“I certainly understand the frustrations, and more important than that, I share it,” Tomlin said.
“That’s how I’m wired. I’m not a big-time comfort seeker … nor am I a comfort provider.”
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