Simply 10 months in the past, there was a reasonably sturdy contingent of the fan base and the nationwide media who have been assuming it was time for Mike Tomlin to maneuver on from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Particularly after the three-game shedding streak in December, these voices grew fairly loud. Now the Steelers are 6-2 on the halfway level of the season, and Tomlin is being considered as top-of-the-line coaches within the league.
In reality, The Ringer issued some midseason awards and Mike Tomlin received the midseason Coach of the Yr.
“In the end I landed on Tomlin, who simply continues to do Tomlin issues,”Sheil Kapadia wrote by way of The Ringer. “In previous years, that meant the Steelers successful ugly, shut video games that that they had no enterprise successful. Nerds like me would consistently level to the Steelers’ unimpressive level differential and say issues like, They will’t preserve getting away with this! However this 12 months’s Steelers have been completely different. They’re 6-2, and it’s not a fluky 6-2.
“Within the AFC, solely the Payments have a greater level differential. These outcomes shouldn’t be doable when you’re navigating a quarterback competitors between Justin Fields and Russell Wilson. But as soon as once more, Tomlin has discovered a strategy to determine it out. No coach has finished extra with much less by means of 9 weeks.”
Provided that many media retailers had the Steelers struggling to get to 6 or seven wins on the season, they’re pressured so as to add Tomlin to the Coach of the Yr dialog with the Steelers having six wins at Week 8. He even made a tricky determination that was nearly unanimously criticized when he benched the 4-2 Justin Fields in favor of Russell Wilson. That call paid off in a giant approach with back-to-back video games of over 400 whole yards on offense and a 2-0 file since then.
There are different deserving candidates. The Steelers’ Week 10 opponent has a reasonably sturdy candidate for the award. Dan Quinn has turned the Washington Commanders from the second worst crew within the league to the present No. 2 seed within the NFC. Inexperienced Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur additionally deserves a point out on this dialog after absorbing Jordan Love’s harm and remaining aggressive within the NFC at 6-3.
There may be nonetheless one other half of the season. Issues can and can change, however Tomlin is on observe to be in heavy consideration for what can be the primary Coach of the Yr honor in his profession. That might be a becoming strategy to finish the 12 months by which many have been upset he obtained a three-year extension.
T.J. Watt was talked about in The Ringer’s midseason Defensive Participant of the Yr, however San Francisco 49ers LB Fred Warner in the end obtained that distinction.
