4 reasons why Mike Tomlin’s winning-season streak is actually bad for the Steelers

For yet another season, Mike Tomlin will have won more games than he has lost while leading the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise. Pittsburgh improved to 9-7 on the year with a win over the reeling Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. With the rival Baltimore Ravens up in the regular-season finale, we are looking at no worse than a 9-8 season in Pittsburgh, but no better than a 10-7 campaign either...

While he has been the head coach of the Steelers for the better part of two decades, 2008 and 2010 were also a long time ago. That was the last time the Steelers won a Super Bowl and been to one. Yes, they have won a few playoff games since then, but not as many as you would hope for when it comes to a franchise that bases its seasonal successes on whether Pittsburgh hoisted a Lombardi Trophy or not.

So as we briefly celebrate another winning season under Tomlin's watch, we have to accept the harsh truth that what we have seen out of Pittsburgh of late has been short of the Steelers' lofty standard. Celebrating this winning-season streak is like the Indianapolis Colts raising AFC Championship Game appearance banners inside of Lucas Oil Stadium. It may be a big deal to you, but nobody really cares.

Here are four reasons why Tomlin's winning-season streak is actually quite bad for the Steelers.

Why Mike Tomlin's winning-season streak is bad for Pittsburgh Steelers

4. Annual nine-win seasons put even more pressure on Omar Khan to mine gems in NFL Draft

This isn't an obvious pitfall of going 9-8 or 10-7 every year, but is certainly is one. It forces the front office to execute at a proficiently high level in seemingly every NFL Draft. Teams like the Steelers are picking in the middle part of each round every spring. There are only a handful of blue-chippers entering every draft, and the Steelers are never in a position to draft any of those premier talents.

Omar Khan's predecessor, Kevin Colbert, was outstanding at this. He found hidden gems in every nook and cranny of the draft. It is why he belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Khan might be just as good as Colbert was at this, but man, is that a ton of pressure put on a front-office executive! It kind of puts your team in a less-than-advantageous spot every offseason to try and get even better.

I am not saying to ever bottom out, but an occasional down year never hurt anyone. It allows teams like the San Antonio Spurs to draft Tim Duncan out of Wake Forest when David Robinson got hurt that one year. Yes, you can still have hits draft in the middle part of each round, but your chances of hitting pay dirt are greatly depreciated when you find yourself in the awful middle of your respective league.

The NFL is a league driven by parity, but the Steelers' culture prevents ever hitting the reset button.