When the best coaches in the National Football League are discussed Mike Tomlin has to be in the conversation. Last month, Tomlin opened his 18th season as the Pittsburgh Steelers successor to a pair of successful head coaches that preceded him in the Steel City, Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher.
All three Pittsburgh head coaches dating back to the 1970’s have won Super Bowls. Noll, who was the first to lead the Steelers from years of inept play, won four Vince Lombardi Trophies before turning the reins over to Cowher in 1992. During his tenure Cowher added another title to the Steelers collection and Tomlin won Super Bowl XLIII in his second season on the sidelines.
Tomlin has another distinction that Noll and Cowher don’t share, he has never had a losing season. In 17 campaigns the Tomlin coached Steelers have never lost more games than they won in any year.
That, by all accounts, is amazing.
Tomlin is at it again this year, leading Pittsburgh to three wins in four games before enjoying their bye last week. He is doing it with the one-time great and recent castoff quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. The future Hall of Fame inductee, who earned those credentials during brilliant years in Green Bay with the Packers, spent two years in what can only be considered a quarterback prison, the New York Jets.
Consider this, one-time first round draft choice Justin Fields spent last season in Pittsburgh after a horrible career start with the team that drafted him, the Chicago Bears. In Chicago, Fields won only 10 of 38 starts and he is winless in four starts with the Jets this season. But, as a starting quarterback last season in Pittsburgh, Fields won four of six decisions.
In his two years with the Jets, Rodgers missed the 2023 campaign after suffering a season ending injury on his first series running the Jets offense, Rodgers was 6 and 12 as the starting quarterback. That includes a win in his first game, which he didn’t last even through the first series of downs, when backup Zach Wilson led an upset win over the Buffalo Bills.
Now, with Tomlin leading the way, Rodgers has won three of his first four starts in Pittsburgh and is favored to win a fourth this week when the Cleveland Browns visit Pittsburgh on Sunday. The Steelers have had two weeks to prepare for this game following their open date and the Browns are returning from London where they lost to the Minnesota Vikings.
In that International Game last week, the Browns opened a new can of quarterback when they started rookie Dillon Gabriel. The kid had a solid preseason and in his first real game action he fared pretty well while completing 19 of 30 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns without surrendering an interception. Albeit the game ended with the Browns on the wrong side of a 21-17 score.
So, what do we have here?
We have one of the winningest teams against one of the losingest. We have veteran Aaron Rodgers against rookie Dillon Gabriel. We have the Steelers looking to keep their hold alone atop the AFC North Division race and the Brown hoping to close ground from the cellar.
Old versus new, success versus failure, seems like it should be the Steelers here.
Might seem that way, but it’s not.
Qoxhi Picks: Cleveland Browns (+5) over Pittsburgh Steelers