Mike Tomlin didn’t leave his position as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers just because he wanted to get into broadcasting. He left the team when it had more questions and concerns than when he took over the Steelers sideline job from Bill Cowher in 2007.
Pittsburgh was in decline, they had a major hole to fill at quarterback, and their defense was not up to standards Tomlin had spent nearly two decades mentoring. As head coach of the Steelers Tomlin never allowed Pittsburgh to suffer a losing season; a record like Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak that will likely never be broken.
Tomlin did have a problem. His success as coach kept the Steelers in the playoff hunt for most of his career, but the consistent level of excellence never allowed Pittsburgh to fall back and reload with high draft picks. The Steelers were trapped in the role of being good enough to earn a playoff spot but not good enough to win in the postseason.
In his second season at the helm, Tomlin would win Super Bowl XLIII over the Arizona Cardinals. Two years later, behind quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers were back fighting for the Vince Lombardi Trophy but lost to Aaron Rodgers and his Green Bay Packers in the only Super Bowl the Packers future Hall of Fame quarterback was to win during his time in Green Bay.
Since that loss in the 2010 Super Bowl, Tomlin guided the Steelers into the playoffs ten times but never got back to the Roman Numeral game. His postseason record since 2011 was 3-10 with his final seven playoff games all losses.
When the Steelers replaced Tomlin with former Green Bay and Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy, it had a nice public relations angle given the new head coach is a native of Pittsburgh. But whether McCarthy would succeed with what Tomlin handed off was highly debatable.