NFL Insider Challenges Mike Tomlin Player Coach Narrative

Head coach Mike Tomlin has built a strong reputation as a players coach over 18 years with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tomlin has received some blame for his players-first attitude leading to selfishness from star players, particularly wide receivers.

But overall, players love to play for Tomlin, and they might play harder for him than they would another coach. At least, that’s been the general narrative around Tomlin for years.

This week, though, CBS Sports’ Aditi Kinkhabwala pushed back on that narrative a little bit.

“I’ll just say this without violating anybody’s trust. There are many, many, many former players that I have spoken to that have bitten their tongues about their experience with Mike [Tomlin],” Kinkhabwala said on 93.7 The Fan on Tuesday, via Steelers Depot’s Josh Carney.

Steelers’ Mike Tomlin More Disliked Than Fans Realize?

Kinkhabwala’s notion that Tomlin isn’t as popular among former Steelers players as it seems will be music to some fans’ ears.

But if one really thinks about it, it shouldn’t be shocking. Tomlin couldn’t possibly have a great relationship with every single one of his former players over 18 years.

NFL head coaches don’t coach for nearly two decades and post a .630 win percentage because they make a lot of friends.

While Kinkhabwala didn’t mention names, Steelers fans who have followed the team long enough can probably guess which players told her they have “bitten their tongue” when potentially talking about Tomlin.

I’m not going to mention names either because I would be purely speculating. But with the amount of roster turnover the Steelers have experienced within the last 15 months alone, some players are obvious candidates to be less than enthused when thinking back on their Tomlin experiences.

Aditi Kinkhabwala Explains ‘Disconnect’ in Mike Tomlin Legacy

This isn’t the first time Kinkhabwala didn’t have the most positive review of Tomlin. But that actually seemed to be her overall greater point when it came to the Steelers head coach this week.

Even though it’s not surprising there are former Steelers player who don’t love Tomlin, it’s not talked about enough nationally, according to the CBS Sports insider. She also argued national pundits don’t analyst other Tomlin criticisms enough.

“There’s a huge disconnect, right? Because the national media is in love with Mike Tomlin, and the national media never brings up the playoff drought,” she said. “And the national media never brings up all these wide receivers who can’t seem to behave one after another and another.”

Kinkhabwala’s overall point is interesting. Tomlin might deserve more blame for those issues nationally than he has received.

But I’m not sure Kinkhabwala is correct that it’s never brought into the conversation. For one, she’s a member of the national media, and she mentioned it.

Steelers fans also bring up those topics all the time. Much of the discussion around the team this summer has been about ending the eight-year playoff drought.

The Steelers have lost six consecutive postseason games dating back to the 2017 AFC championship game. That’s tied for the longest active playoff losing streak in the NFL.

That losing streak doesn’t completely fall on Tomlin. But he should shoulder some, if not a lot, of the blame.