Tomlin Blues with no Direction
The definition of purgatory is a place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who were exploiting their sins before going to heaven. To not go deep into faith or religion just understand purgatory is to cleans per the Latin verb classification. The Pittsburgh Steelers unfortunately have been in purgatory since 2016. The culprit of the matter is a man named Mike Tomlin.
Many view Tomlin as a Nelson Mandela or even the late great Dr. Martin Luther King. Mike Tomlin is a football coach not a motivational speaker or a civil rights activist. Instead Tomlin can't differentiate the difference and has forgot how he became an excellent head coach. Or did he. Bill Cowher was his predecessor who allowed Mike to have success with players he drafted. Now those players like James Harrison are furious at Mike Tomlin’s inability to adapt to a new NFL. Just look no further to the old fashioned butt whooping his division rivals put on him in the Wild Card game in Baltimore.
Tomlin won the toss but elected to receive despite his offense averaging 14.3 points per game and on a 4-game losing skid. That is the Steelers immediate problem, conquering Mike Tomlin’s ego. Now maybe he believes reading a Mandela quote will change his players inability to stop a read option concept that his team has seen for three times in one season vs the Ravens. Instead he asked T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith to crash every play on Derrick Henry and allow the dynamic Lamar Jackson to run buckwild untouched every single play. Don’t even forget the Steelers were in a 7-0 football game with no tomorrow and decided to punt on 4th-and-inches. Don’t forget Tomlin called a fake punt against the Washington Commanders earlier in the season but it was a pointless game.
Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since 2016. In their six-game losing streak, Steelers have allowed 38.3 points per game, 418.2 yards per game allowed, 6.3 yards per play allowed, 155.3 rushing yards per game allowed, opponents score in red zone at a rate of 76.9%, only 8 sacks, 2 total takeaways, and 1 interception. If you are a casual fan those numbers for a defensive minded head coach are utterly embarrassing. By the way per Gerry Dulac a team reporter, Mike Tomlin calls the defense and has since Dick LeBeau got forced out of town who is one of the best defensive mind in NFL history. That ego is a mother fucker isn’t it Tomlin stans?
So what's the answer to getting out of purgatory? Unfortunately I am just a die-hard Steelers fan who isn’t in the room to make decisions. Art Rooney III and Omar Khan are. And it is their responsibility to help Steelers get out of purgatory and do what their mantra is to compete for Lombardi trophies. Mike Tomlin has no pressure, just endless Tomlinism; he recites like an activist instead of adjusting to read play options and understand how to adjust.
Maybe Mike Tomlin’s middle name is Purgatory!