The year that Mike Tomlin took over the head coaching duties of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tom Brady and the Patriots went undefeated in the regular season and lost the Super Bowl to Eli Manning and David Tyree\u2019s Helmet Catch. Adrian Peterson was the NFL\u2019s Offensive Rookie of the Year, and Randy Moss, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning were in the primes of their careers. George W. Bush was still president, and there was no such thing as a Marvel Cinematic Universe.<\/p>\n
Mike Tomlin took charge of the Steelers a long time ago, is what we\u2019re saying. But now, judging from the \u201cFire Tomlin\u201d chants that resounded throughout Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon, that union might just be reaching its end.<\/p>\n
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[Get more Steelers news: Pittsburgh team feed<\/a>]<\/p>\n By any measure, Tomlin has had a spectacular head-coaching career. A Super Bowl champion, his next win will move him into a tie with Dan Reeves for 10th place on the NFL\u2019s career coaching wins list at 190. His famous, and justly celebrated, streak of never finishing a season below .500 remains intact; the Steelers are 6-6 even after Sunday\u2019s miserable loss to Buffalo.<\/p>\n That woeful 26-7 defeat brought fans\u2019 long-simmering frustrations to a full boil. Chants of \u201cFire Tomlin\u201d resonated throughout Acrisure Stadium<\/a>. And these weren\u2019t just a few isolated cranks hopped up on cheap beer. No, these chants were loud:<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n “I share their frustration tonight,\u201d Tomlin said, when asked about the chants. \u201cWe didn\u2019t do enough.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a fair assessment of Sunday, where the Steelers gained just 166 yards of total offense \u2014 108 in the air, 58 on the ground \u2014 and managed to convert only three of nine third-down opportunities. Meanwhile, the Bills set a stadium rushing record of 249 yards over, around and through the Pittsburgh defense.<\/p>\n But \u201cwe didn\u2019t do enough\u201d applies to the season as a whole, too \u2026 maybe to the entire decade of the 2020s for Pittsburgh. Although Aaron Rodgers\u2019 name isn\u2019t exactly synonymous with Pittsburgh, it was impossible to look at photographs of him after suffering a cut to his nose on Sunday<\/a> \u2014 weary, bleeding, bandaged, gray in his beard and a resigned look in his eyes \u2014 and not think of the larger picture, that the best on-field days of both Rodgers and the Steelers are, for now, behind them.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cI totally understand the frustration,\u201d Rodgers said after the game<\/a>. \u201cThat was a boo-worthy performance.\u201d<\/p>\n The Steelers of the 2020s lurk in the NFL\u2019s murky middle \u2014 enough name recognition to earn a few nationally televised games, but not enough talent to seize control of the division or the conference. Enough wins to make the playoffs on a regular basis, but too many to get anywhere near a position to draft a reliable quarterback.<\/p>\n Since the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger \u2014 whose arrival in Pittsburgh predated even Tomlin\u2019s \u2014 the Steelers have cycled through a procession of rent-a-QBs whose performances have ranged from decent to disastrous, with a whole lot more lows and mids than highs. Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, Russell Wilson, Mason Rudolph, Justin Fields and now Rodgers \u2014 all quarterbacks whose best days, whether college or pro, came long before they arrived in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n