Mike Tomlin is the coach of the year

Back in March, Ben Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault for the second time in just seven months. A month later, NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell suspended Ben for the first six games, (later reduced to four), of the 2010 NFL Season. It looked as if the Steelers’ playoff hopes vanished before they even set foot on the field. Mike Tomlin, going into just his fourth season as the Steelers head coach, told the media that he was “highly concerned for the franchise, and Roethlisberger”.


Just about every NFL analyst picked the Steelers to end up below 500 after the first four games. Many of them even said they’d go 0-4, possibly even 0-6, because it would take the offense time to re-adjust to Roethlisberger. To be quite honest, even I had my doubts on where the Steelers would be after Ben’s suspension.

On Sunday, the Steelers won their third AFC Championship game in six years, giving them a shot at a dynasty.

As great of a quarterback Big Ben is, and as much of an asset he is to the team, and the organization, I guarantee you that it couldn’t have been done without Coach Mikey T. He didn’t allow his players to be distracted by any of Ben’s off the field issues, and he ignored everything that the media said. The Steelers, (who were supposed to start off 0-4), went on to win twelve games in the regular season, including “THREE OUT OF THEIR FIRST 4”!

Now in my opinion, no other coach in the NFL could have done it. It’s possible that Mike Tomlin may be the best coach in the NFL today. Of course you’ll always hear about the genius Bill Bellichick, and Sean Payton, but neither of those two would have been able to do what Tomlin did without their starting quarterbacks. Now Mikey T is riding high, on his way to his second super bowl in just his fourth year as a head coach.


written by Alex Muchnok