Former NFL head coach Todd Haley is giving Mike Tomlin a pass for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ lack of playoff success. His rationale, however, is debatable. Weighing in on how Aaron Rodgers fits with Pittsburgh, Haley thinks the team finally has the quarterback piece that will allow them to compete in January.
“I know there hadn’t been a playoff win or a Super Bowl, but you’re playing without a quarterback for the most part,” Haley said as a guest on Kevin Clark’s This is Football podcast. “They’re doing the best they can. They thought they had it with Kenny Pickett. It didn’t work out. They thought they had it with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. It didn’t work out the way they wanted to.
“But quarterbacks don’t grow on trees. And if you don’t have one, you gotta play perfect football against some of the best teams in the league as you come down the stretch.”
Pittsburgh has gone without a playoff victory since 2016, the team’s longest such drought since the 1970 merger. The Steelers have lost their last six postseason games, a mark tied with the Miami Dolphins for the league’s worst active streak. A weight on the organization, especially as defensive pillars DL Cam Heyward and EDGE T.J. Watt reach their 30s, still looking for postseason success. Heyward has just one game, the 2015 Wild Card, while Watt has yet to experience a win.
Haley’s correct in noting the difficulty of getting over that hump without an established quarterback. Few teams do. But part of Tomlin’s job is to find that quarterback. One of the most influential head coaches in the game with as much sway over roster construction as anyone, Tomlin absorbs a bulk of the team’s misses. Pittsburgh has completely turned over its quarterback room in two straight seasons and will start its fifth different Week One quarterback in five years, a first in franchise history.
It’s an issue that can’t be swept away under the belief that some other magical power is preventing Tomlin from landing a quarterback. Being an annually competitive team makes it more challenging to draft a blue-chip prospect, but the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, and Baltimore Ravens didn’t need a hard reset to find their future MVPs. Tomlin is the rare head coach hired not needing to find a quarterback, benefiting from an already-established Ben Roethlisberger. Haley had the same fortune when he became offensive coordinator in 2012.
Rodgers could have a successful season. Haley thinks he will. However, even so, the team’s long-term solution remains elusive.
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