Steelers: 3 irresponsible mistakes Mike Tomlin has already made this offseason

Pittsburgh Steelers fans should be just about out of patience with Mike Tomlin. He has been a hall-of-fame head coach for the franchise for nearly two decades now. However, it has been over a decade since the Steelers even won the AFC. For those who are out on the frustratingly stubborn head coach, welcome to the club. For those who aren't, keep enjoying that sweet Stockholm Syndrome.

The Steelers don't fire head coaches. In fact, they have only had three in my entire life. That level of stability can breed an incredibly successful culture, but it can also breed dysfunction if not properly monitored. It has become a franchise where anything and everything Tomlin wants or tolerates is accepted. This has been to the detriment of the Steelers franchise a decade now. Painfully mediocre.

With all three franchises in the division having a better future outlook than the Black and Yellow, you have to wonder when The Rooney Family will intervene. 9-8 should not be celebrated like being on the dean's list. C's get degrees has become the new motto in Pittsburgh, a town that sure measures success on Lombardi Trophies. You want the best for the team and its fans, but it has become so mid.

It is not even March yet, but Tomlin has already made three incredibly irresponsible mistakes so far.

3. Hiring Arthur Smith to be their offensive coordinator at 52-week low

In time, hiring former Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith to replace Matt Canada as the Steelers' next offensive coordinator could work out. He loves to run the ball, but questionable play-calling and a refusal to relinquish power were reasons why it failed for him in Atlanta. Smith had been a great offensive coordinator prior to getting to Atlanta in Tennessee, but this hiring was still strange.

In a league that is increasingly passing-centric, Smith has remained steadfast in his belief of using the run to open up the pass. The Falcons could run the ball quite well, but moving the sticks aerially was a cause for concern particularly in the last two years. This sounds a lot like Pittsburgh, who took a quarterback in the same draft class as the Falcons did in 2022. More on that in a bit, but why Smith?

To me, this screams of Tomlin fighting for even more control. He hired a much-maligned former NFL head coach at a 52-week low. Smith's stock has never been this low since his earliest days as a staffer in Nashville. This could be exactly what the Steelers need, but stubbornness does not cancel out other stubbornness. The Steelers locker room is already a chaotic one, so let's add some spice!

For a team that loves to go 9-8, Tomlin has hired a former coach who was only capable of going 7-10.