Is there a more polarizing head coach than Mike Tomlin?
Steelers fans are split on the coach. He has plenty of regular-season success, but that doesn’t automatically equate to Super Bowl wins. The Pittsburgh faithful are tired of falling short of even getting to a conference championship game, yet the thinking around the league is that if Tomlin is fired, several teams would fire their head coaches to hire him.
Tomlin is a great regular-season coach. Hindsight is 20/20, so you could say Pittsburgh should have won more in the 2010s, but he often gives the team better results by doing more with less on a roster that lacks superstars on offense. Tomlin has gone 183-107-2 in the regular season but only 8-10 in the playoffs. That includes three wins from the 2008 season when Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl.
Eighteen consecutive seasons without a losing season is an outstanding achievement, although it doesn’t result in a high draft pick that will turn the franchise around. While Tomlin has never had a losing record in the regular season, fans are getting tired of his losing record in the playoffs as the Steelers look to pick up their first playoff win since 2016 in a wild-card game against the Ravens.
Here is a look inside Tomlin’s history in the playoffs.
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Mike Tomlin playoff record
Tomlin was named the Steelers’ head coach in 2007. He took over for Bill Cowher, who coached from 1992 to 2006 and won the 2006 Super Bowl with Pittsburgh. When he stepped down as head coach, Cower left with a 12-9 playoff record, winning at least one playoff game in eight of the 10 times he led the Steelers to the playoffs.
Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl in 2006, hired Tomlin in 2007 and then won the Super Bowl in 2009. The latest Super Bowl has the Steelers in a tie with the Patriots for most Super Bowl wins for a franchise at six.
Tomlin set the bar high for himself. He then had an offensive powerhouse comprised of Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward and Heath Miller, which eventually turned into Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell. This doesn’t include the perennial all-stars the Steelers had on defense, who set expectations for the Pittsburgh defense and the “Steeler Way.”
Even with all of that, though, Pittsburgh hasn’t returned to the Super Bowl since 2011. Over the last 10 years, the Steelers have been to the playoffs seven times. In that span, they have won three games and lost six. 2016 was the last time the Steelers won a playoff game — Pittsburgh beat Miami in the wild card and Kansas City in the divisional but lost to New England in the AFC championship game.
Despite going 13-3 and winning the AFC North in 2017, the Steelers lost to the Jaguars in the divisional round. That was the last time Pittsburgh made it past the wild-card round. This year, the Steelers will go on the road in the first round of the playoffs to take on the Ravens, whom they went 1-1 against in the regular season, with each team winning its home game. Tomlin looks to end his playoff drought in Baltimore.
| Year | Record | Division Finish | Postseason Record | Result |
| 2007 | 10-6 | 1st | 0-1 | L, Wild Card vs. Jaguars |
| 2008 | 12-4 | 1st | 3-0 | W, Super Bowl vs. Cardinals |
| 2010 | 12-4 | 1st | 2-1 | L, Super Bowl vs. Packers |
| 2011 | 12-4 | 2nd | 0-1 | L, Wild Card vs. Broncos |
| 2014 | 11-5 | 1st | 0-1 | L, Wild Card vs. Ravens |
| 2015 | 10-6 | 2nd | 1-1 | L, Divisional vs. Broncos |
| 2016 | 11-5 | 1st | 2-1 | L, AFC Championship vs. Patriots |
| 2017 | 13-3 | 1st | 0-1 | L, Divisional vs. Jaguars |
| 2020 | 12-4 | 1st | 0-1 | L, Wild Card vs. Browns |
| 2021 | 9-7-1 | 2nd | 0-1 | L, Wild Card vs. Chiefs |
| 2023 | 10-7 | 3rd | 0-1 | L, Wild Card vs. Bills |
| 2024 | 10-7 | 2nd | TBD | TBD |
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Has Mike Tomlin won a Super Bowl?
Tomlin has been to two Super Bowls with Pittsburgh. The Steelers beat the Cardinals in the 2009 Super Bowl. Pittsburgh returned to the Super Bowl in 2011 against the Packers but lost.
The Steelers have only been to one AFC Championship Game since 2017 but lost to the Patriots.
How long has Mike Tomlin coached the Steelers?
Tomlin was hired as the head coach of the Steelers in 2007.
Tomlin spent the 2006 season as the defensive coordinator for the Vikings. He took over for Cowher, who was Pittsburgh’s head coach from 1992 to 2006. Cowher finished with a 149-90-1 regular-season record, a 12-9 playoff record and a win in the 2006 Super Bowl.
Tomlin currently has a better winning percentage than Cowher (.630 compared to .623), but Cowher has the edge with a 12-9 playoff record over Tomlin’s current 8-10 record.
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