Players Mike Tomlin Developed Become Snipers Shooting At Coach From Inside Steelers Tent

The snipers are taking shots at Mike Tomlin this week, suggesting he wasn’t that good a coach, that he should probably move on, and that his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers needs to end.

And this is routine NFL behavior when a legacy team like the Steelers hasn’t won a playoff game in a decade, and people think they know how to remedy that by crafting the unique idea of firing the head coach. But this is different.

Mike Tomlin has become a target of many of his former players. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Sniping At Tomlin From Inside The Tent

This is stunning because this talk is coming from former players. It’s coming from guys Tomlin turned into stars. It’s coming from players such as Ben Roethlisberger, James Harrison and Ryan Clark.

And this should be galling to Tomlin because these snipers come from inside the Steelers tent.

Before I unmask the betrayal, allow me to present some perspective:

The Steelers are playing the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday for first place in the AFC North. They are like 100 percent of the NFL’s teams this year — not dominant or trouble-free, but fighting for enough relevance to get into the playoffs.

But somehow, these former players and a significant portion of the Steelers fan base are treating Tomlin like he’s managing the disintegration of the British Empire.

Steelers Went To Playoffs With Wilson, Fields

The Steelers coach that so many people started turning against last season went to the playoffs last season. He went there with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields as his quarterbacks.

Wilson this year has been benched by the New York Giants.

Fields this year has been benched by the New York Jets.

It’s quite possible neither of these guys ever starts an NFL game again. But the coach who coaxed enough wins out of them to make the playoffs last year supposedly isn’t a good coach anymore.

It doesn’t stop there.

Tomlin Made Antonio Brown Seem Normal

Remember Antonio Brown? The dude enjoyed seven 1,000-yard-plus seasons in nine years with the Steelers, and we all thought he was awesome.

Then he left the Steelers, and we suddenly found out he was actually borderline nuts.

Like, where did this guy who blew up the Raiders within months of his arrival, who got cut from the Patriots after one game, and left the Buccaneers sideline in the middle of a game as he took his uniform off come from?

Turns out he was there the whole time. But Mike Tomlin kept him in line as if by a protractor for nearly a decade with such aplomb that we all thought Brown was normal.

And now we've got the geniuses Roethlisberger, Harrison and Clark ripping that coach because a couple have a podcast and the other somehow still has a job at ESPN.

James Harrison pumps up the crowd with a terrible towel prior to the game against the Packers in October. Mandatory Credit: Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

Harrison Forgot Times Before Tomlin

All three of these guys won a Super Bowl with Mike Tomlin as their head coach. All three spent the past week betraying him for the sake of speaking their minds.

Harrison on Monday went on something called the Deebo and Joe podcast and casually pushed his coach of 10 years under the bus.

"I have never been a person that thought coach Tomlin was a great coach," Harrison said. "I thought he was a good coach… A good coach gets you to play to your potential."

This from a player who wasn’t drafted, wasn’t invited to the combine, and was a forgettable rotational guy until Tomlin arrived in 2007 and turned him into a Pro Bowler and All-Pro.

But in Tomlin's first year, Harrison started all 16 games and collected 8.5 sacks and was selected to the Pro Bowl. The next year, 2008, Harrison had 16 sacks and was selected All Pro.

It seems Harrison forgot he was a nobody with potential until the good coach took over in Pittsburgh.

Ryan Clark Agrees With James Harrison 

Ryan Clark, undrafted out of LSU, was a journeyman who played a couple of years for the Giants, a couple for the Redskins, and arrived in Pittsburgh one year before Tomlin was hired.

And by the time Tomlin was done with him, Clark had become a stalwart in the Steelers secondary, and had earned a Pro Bowl honor and a Super Bowl ring.

But that guy, whose career blossomed under Tomlin, agreed with Harrison that Tomlin should go.

"To me, Mike Tomlin is one of the best coaches that’s ever lived, and he’s one of the greatest coaches of this era," Clark began, before plunging the dagger in Tomlin's back. 

"What makes me sad is, when you watch the product that’s on the field right now, you have to agree with what James is saying," Clark continued. "You have to say that Mike Tomlin is not getting this team prepared to play up to their potential… Maybe Mike Tomlin’s voice should be elsewhere. Maybe it’s best that you tear this entire thing down."

Roethlisberger Worst In His Betrayal

The biggest disappointment is Ben Roethlisberger. Yes, he won a Super Bowl under Bill Cowher early on, but he also threw 18 touchdown passes and 23 interceptions the year before Tomlin arrived. 

The next year, under Tomlin, he threw more than 30 TD passes for the first time in his career, won another Super Bowl the following season, and fashioned a good career that stretched through 2021. 

None of that was apparently on Roethlisberger's mind this week. He was too busy scheming the plot for Tomlin's ouster. 

"You go, ‘Hey, coach, listen, it’s probably best for all parties involved, let’s start over.’ It happened with Chuck Noll, it happened with coach Cowher," Roethlisberger said. "Coach Tomlin’s been here a long time. You’d give him a statute, whatever you’ve got to do, because he deserves it, he’s earned it. 

"But it’s time to find that next guy. Who’s that next guy that could be here for the next 20 years?"

There's a word for all this, and it has nothing to do with stating opinion freely. The word is betrayal.