Ex-Steelers WR Believes Mike Tomlin Can Add to Hall of Fame Legacy in 2024

Colin Cowherd of FS1 recently said the Pittsburgh Steelers have a top-5 roster in the NFL, but he thinks their 2024 daunting schedule will be too much for them to handle. He also suggests that Mike Tomlin could leave Pittsburgh after the season, I assume if it’s his first losing season or the Steelers don’t win a playoff game for the eighth consecutive year.

“Did you see the last six quarterbacks Pittsburgh faces?” Cowherd said on his podcast. “[Joe] Burrow, Deshaun Watson, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, [Patrick] Mahomes, and Burrow. Mike Tomlin is going to be on network broadcasting. And, by the way, I predict he’ll be great. I’ve talked to two network execs who would hire Mike Tomlin tomorrow.”

Cowherd previously mentioned that he thinks the Steelers will win 11 or 12 games in 2024, but it appears the schedule really altered his outlook on the Steelers’ 2024 campaign.

“That is the toughest schedule I have ever seen, (from) Thanksgiving on, in league history,” Cowherd said.

If Tomlin could get Pittsburgh to the playoffs, former Steelers wide receiver Plaxico Burress thinks he’ll bolster his case for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“Based off his schedule, if Mike Tomlin finds a way to get this team to the playoffs, all you can do is just tip your hat to him and say this man is hell of a coach and a Hall of Fame coach,” Burress said on The Carton Show Friday morning, via Ross McCorkle of Steelers Depot.

Tomlin never had a losing season in 17 seasons as the Steelers head coach, which is an NFL record for a coach to start his career. Extending it to 18 years with the daunting schedule certainly will be impressive. The Steelers have a seven-year streak without a playoff win, however, which is a blemish for Tomlin.

Only Tom Landry (21 seasons, 1965-1985) and Bill Belichick (19 seasons, 2001-2019) have more consecutive seasons without a losing record than Tomlin’s 17. Landry had five consecutive losing seasons to start his career with the Dallas Cowboys, while Belichick had losing seasons in Cleveland and in his first season in New England.

There had been speculation from national media that Tomlin could look to step aside after the 2023 season, but that obviously didn’t come to fruition. Tomlin is heading into his 18th season as the Steelers head coach, and is expected to have his contract extended at some point this offseason.

At the NFL owner’s meeting in late March, Rob King of Steelers.com asked Tomlin about coaching the Steelers for the foreseeable future. And Tomlin gave an answer that suggests he has more fire now than ever.

“Absolutely. I love what I do. I love where I do it. I love who I do it with. I answer that question rather easily, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said. “Certainly, we have things like contracts and things to address. But just in spirit, in terms what I do, the energy I bring to what I do, the desire to step out of that car every day and step into that facility, it hasn’t waned in any way. If it’s done anything different, it has intensified.”