Mike Tomlin’s tenure with the Pittsburgh Steelers is over. It brought a lot of success, including zero losing seasons and a Super Bowl win. However, Tomlin wasn’t without his flaws, especially during the second half of his time in Pittsburgh. Tomlin raised the Steelers’ floor, but their ceiling under him felt capped. He’s part of the reason why they haven’t won a playoff game in almost a decade. Former Steelers corner Joe Haden is a Tomlin supporter, but there was one big issue that he noticed during his time in Pittsburgh.
“When I got to Pittsburgh, it was years and years into Coach Tomlin being there, and the one thing that I could see where you needed a new voice [was] the accountability,” Haden said Friday on his Deebo and Joe podcast. “Everything needs to be tight. There was a looseness that was going around. That looseness is a reason where errors come in…If star players were doing certain things, you just gotta nip it in the bud.
“Things like meetings, late stuff… When the vet leeway is getting to a point where it turns [into] almost blatant disrespect to where your team is seeing stuff like, ‘We can’t be moving like this as a team, vet aside.’ When you get a new coach in there, he’s not rocking. You set that standard from the T.J. Watts to the Ben Roethlisbergers to anybody on the team where there’s no leeway for nobody.”
Haden was with the Steelers from 2017-2021, and Tomlin was well established as one of the league’s best coaches at that point. However, when looking at some of the players on those teams, it’s easy to see what Haden is talking about.
Antonio Brown is the best example. He was arguably the NFL’s best receiver during that time, but he also had a huge attitude problem. Tomlin is often credited for being able to handle Brown’s big personality, but he might’ve made some missteps along the way. Tomlin shouldn’t be blamed for how things ended for Brown in Pittsburgh, but perhaps he should’ve used a firmer hand at times.
This isn’t the first time that someone has suggested Tomlin should have held players more accountable, either. Former NFL quarterback Nick Foles brought the idea up late last year. Many of the things he said he heard match up with what Haden is saying.
The difference is that Haden had a front-row seat to Tomlin’s coaching style for years. He was with the team when things got bad with Brown and Le’Veon Bell. He’s not speaking from second-hand information.
Tomlin being a player’s coach was a double-edged sword. It endeared him to many, but others took advantage of it. We’ll see if things are different under Mike McCarthy. He’s already made some changes as the Steelers’ head coach. Whether that produces results or not remains to be seen.
A new voice might be just what the Steelers need, though. That’s partly why Tomlin stepped down. He wants to give the players the best chance to win, even if that’s without him. No matter his faults, that’s commendable.