Former Steeler puts all the pressure in Pittsburgh this season on one surprising figure

If nothing else, it's been a busy offseason for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Former first-round pick Kenny Pickett was shipped across Pennsylvania to the Eagles, which then made way for signing Russell Wilson in addition to trading for Justin Fields, igniting a quarterback battle between two polarizing signal-callers.

But beyond just the quarterback position, the Steelers offensive line has been dramatically reshaped, most notably in the draft with the selections of Troy Fautanu and Zach Frazier in the first two rounds. Wide receiver Diontae Johnson was also traded in exchange for cornerback Donte Jackson. And that's just the high-profile moves that were made.

The endgame of all of these moves, of course, is for the Steelers to simply get over the hump. This team has been good but never great in recent years, largely on the strength of their defense and in spite of the offense. As these changes have been made, though, the expectation is now that Pittsburgh will level up and contend again.

And if not, at least one former Steeler who spent all but one season of his time in Pittsburgh playing under Mike Tomlin, believes that the head coach should absolutely have his job on the line.

Former Steelers OL Willie Colon says Mike Tomlin should be on hot seat

Willie Colon, who played for the Steelers from 2006-12 (Tomlin took over as head coach in 2007) recently appeared on FS1's Craig Carton Show, and the former NFL offensive lineman didn't mince words about the pressure that should be on Tomlin this season after all of the changes and based on the middling results in recent years (h/t Bleacher Report).

"When you talk about his overall record, you talk about in 17 seasons, he has an 8-10 playoff record, only four seasons with playoff wins and he's had some bonafide teams even with Ben Roethlisberger," Colon said. "The issue with Mike Tomlin right now is he wins games he's supposed to win, but he loses games he shouldn't lose. Go back to this year. He lost to the New England Patriots, Arizona Cardinals. Had no business losing those games. And now Steeler Nation is frustrated. Because they're looking at an organization right now that is well above average, and then they lose bonehead games. I'm saying to myself, well, who are the Pittsburgh Steelers? Are they the bullies, or are they the dweebs right now? If you lost to the Patriots and the Cardinals, you look like the dweebs."

Let's try to take more away from this than "Mike Tomlin looks like a dweeb, says Willie Colon" from this, because there is some truth to what's being said here.

Tomlin's success with the Steelers has been evident, without question. He's a Super Bowl winner as a head coach, he's led Pittsburgh to eight AFC North titles, and as any NFL broadcast will tell you, he's never finished the regular season with a losing record.

But that Lombardi Trophy came back in 2008, his second season as head coach. As Colon points out, he has a losing record in the playoffs, which is highlighted further by the fact that the Steelers have only been to the AFC Championship Game once since the 2010 season when Pittsburgh lost to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV.

So maybe, perhaps, Tomlin should be under a bit more pressure and scrutiny this season because of that. It should be a put-up-or-shut-up type of mentality, with the put up portion of that being having postseason success that has shockingly eluded the head coach and the franchise for about a decade now.

In reality, the Steelers roster is once again good enough for this team to make the playoffs in the 2024 season but the excuses are already built in with the quarterback uncertainty. It's a stopgap year with hopes that Wilson and Fields will become something. But if they don't, then the organization tries something else at the position with Tomlin once again manning the ship.

Having said that, the narrative around the Steelers head coach is slowly changing, as evidenced by Colon's comments. He may be a bit premature in terms of actual hot seat talk for Tomlin barring an unmitigated disaster of a 2024 season, but it's a take and a storyline that, long-term, might indeed be worth monitoring.