Mike Tomlin risks ruining a good thing with offensive coordinator decision

Death, taxes and the Pittsburgh Steelers never finishing below .500 under Mike Tomlin. While we accept the first two, should we accept more high-end mediocrity from Tomlin's team going forward? Well, he hired Matt Canada in the first place, a big mistake, only to then fire him and see Kenny Pickett massively regress in his second season out of Pitt. Mike Sullivan is why this team made the playoffs.

Pittsburgh's play-caller, along with long-time backup quarterback Mason Rudolph, are why the Steelers made the postseason. Defense has always been the franchise's calling card since its first run to prominence in the 1970s under Chuck Noll. However, I don't see any way out of this perpetual quagmire the Steelers find themselves in outside of a complete and utter reboot at the helm of it.

When Tomlin stormed off after being asked a question about his future in Pittsburgh, to me, that is just another sign of the beginning of the end for him leading the Steelers. Sure, he can definitely go with an outside hire at offensive coordinator, despite accidentally stumbling onto something pretty good with Sullivan. He could take a demotion, or go join any number of new staffs across the league.

Tomlin may add competition to the quarterback room to get the most out of Pickett, but it feels bleak.

If this wasn't the time to move on from Tomlin, I don't know what to tell Steelers fans. Yinz are experiencing Stockholm Syndrome. I guess life's easier smiling your way through a hostage situation.

Mike Tomlin is probably going to screw of Pittsburgh Steelers' OC hire

There are two ways I see this happening. Let's say Tomlin's hand-picked replacement for Canada, and Sullivan to some extent, bombs. What leads you to believe The Rooneys will hold Tomlin accountable for another bad hire? After all, they have one of the biggest brands in the sport. A slightly above .500 record will have yinzers everywhere being suckers for this underperforming AFC franchise yet again.

Okay, let's choose the optimistic route, because who doesn't love that?! Let's say whoever Tomlin hires to be his offensive coordinator achieves great success. Pickett becomes a borderline Pro Bowl player, as the Steelers are capable of winning multiple playoff games once again. Well, that offensive coordinator will be poached by a bad team to be their future NFL head coach. Pickett will still remain...

You see the problem here, right? Tomlin is not going to get credit for his next offensive coordinator's success, as that is not his side of the ball. I have seen this several times over what a hot shot offensive mind buoys a team led by a defensive-minded head coach. He will be poached and the defensive-minded head coach will probably come up short of nailing the offensive coordinator hire.

As long as Tomlin remains and remains loyal to Pickett, the Steelers' will always have a definite ceiling.