Mike Tomlin is playing dangerous game with handling Steelers locker room fighting

Mike Tomlin is hard at work making sure his Steelers are prepared to advance as far as possible in the upcoming NFL Playoffs. He does not want to be distracted by arguments inside his locker room. Presumably, that's why the disciplinarian has decided to ignore them entirely.

The long-time Pittsburgh head man was asked about in-fighting amongst his defensive players after Thursday night's loss to the Chiefs. Tomlin largely blew off the question by explaining that the arguments only occur because his players "care."

On one hand, Tomlin is smart not to get bogged down by every locker room argument that occurs under his watch. Competitive players are going to have disagreements from time to time. Those disagreements are naturally amplified when the team is losing. The Steelers aren't used to being on the wrong side of the scoreboard so the loss to the Chiefs likely stung some egos in Pittsburgh.

It would still be wise for Tomlin to keep his ears open to make sure none of those arguments cross the line. Discontent is easily sown inside NFL locker rooms. The Steelers have already needed to make several potentially divisive calls this season. For example, the transition from Justin Fields to Russell Wilson surely had some detractors on the team's roster, but the team took it in stride.

The Steelers do not have the overwhelming talent required to win playoff games without a unified locker room. Tomlin has a deserved reputation as a master motivator, but that requires his players to buy-in to his words and decisions at a high level. It is easy to envision a scenario where his credibility gets drug down into the mud with ugly locker room squabbles.

Tomlin is not going to change his methodology at this stage of his career, but he should reexamine the attention he pays to arguments inside his locker room. Culture is an increasingly important thing in the modern NFL and he can't afford to lose his over player in-fighting.