5 NFL head coaches squarely on the hot seat after Week 14
By John Buhler
4. Mike Tomlin needs to adapt or his winning record streak is going to die
When does it stop being a coincidence? Yinzers will defend Mike Tomlin to the death, but he is living on borrowed time in Western Pennsylvania. What his Pittsburgh Steelers are doing in recent weeks is not up to Bill Cowher or Chuck Noll standards. The AFC North is a jumbled mess after the Baltimore Ravens atop of the division, but what would happen if the Steelers finished the season 8-9 or worse?
Never having a losing season is Tomlin's greatest calling card to date. That is a great accomplishment on a surface level, but they don't hang winning season banners in a place like Pittsburgh. It is all about Lombardi Trophies, something the Steelers have not regularly competed for in well over a decade now. To make matters even worse, they lost to the rotting corpse New England Patriots on Thursday.
Truthfully, I don't know if The Rooneys have the gumption to fire Tomlin at the end of this season. Then again, the Steelers had to kick an ineffective Matt Canada to the curb mid-season. I get that he was a lousy offensive coordinator, but firing coaches mid-season is not how the Steelers do business. Tomlin would get hired immediately if he was let go, but the Steelers are in dire need of a reboot now.
You can leave well enough alone in perpetuity, but when is well enough no longer good enough?