For the sixth time in Mike Tomlin's 16 seasons as head coach of the Steelers, his team didn't qualify for the playoffs.
It's a tough pill to swallow for everyone on the South Side. This is, after all, an organization with Super Bowl aspirations year in and year out.
So it's no surprise that when Tomlin stepped to the podium Monday afternoon at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex for his end of season press conference, he wasn't quite ready to put the 2022 season behind him.
"I stand before you today with a lack of preparedness for this, to be quite honest with you," Tomlin said. "I was preparing to prepare to play a game."
The reason is quite simple. His team, after a dreadful 2-6 start to the season, was really beginning to find their footing. The offense ran the ball very effectively. Kenny Pickett made significant strides during a rookie campaign in which he took over the starting quarterback job mid-game in Week 4. The defense did enough to survive without T.J. Watt, then thrived after his return to the field.
As Tomlin said after Sunday's 28-14 win over the Browns in the season finale, his team was "on the rise." But now, all of that progress, all of that growth comes to a halt.
Regardless of the circumstances that led to a 9-8 finish -- dealing with the growing pains of a young offense and missing Watt for seven games -- Tomlin made it point to maintain consistency with his players throughout the course of the season. They responded in the face of adversity, leaned on that consistency and did enough to keep the competitive fire going to the very end.
And yeah, regardless of how young the offense was or how the defense played, the Steelers wanted an opportunity to put it to the test against the best teams in the NFL for a chance at playing for a seventh Lombardi Trophy.
Now that'll have to wait and there's a long way to go until the opening kickoff of the 2023 season. In the meantime, the players have to try to somehow bottle up the momentum they carried into a potential spot in the playoffs and save it for next season. That's difficult to do with so much uncertainty regarding the roster and the coaching staff.
Tomlin will still be here, and when asked if he carries the same competitiveness and fire that helped spark a 7-2 finish into the offseason to improve the team, he succinctly answered in the way we would all expect him to.
"More so," Tomlin said. "Increasingly so."
That competitive fire ultimately came to a head during the team's bye week, and wound up as the catalyst for the team's turnaround. The Steelers had just been trampled by the Eagles and dropped to 2-6. But, Tomlin had what was described by Kevin Dotson as a "heart to heart" with the team, pretty much telling the team that they just weren't very good.
"When he was saying it, he wasn’t sugarcoating anything," Dotson said Monday. "Pretty much everybody needed that because we were kind of living in this fantasy of potential. But potential can hinder you just because you think this is where you’re supposed to be."
Potential was what the 2022 Steelers were going to be all about. Ben Roethlisberger retired, Pickett was drafted in the first round as his potential successor, second-year players at running back and tight end, a new rookie receiver, a new offensive line -- this whole season had growth and potential written all over it.
Despite any critics that would pounce at the opportunity to bash Tomlin for a losing season during a transition year, finishing under .500 would have been more than understandable given the transition at quarterback alone. Not everybody has a Steve Young behind their Joe Montana or an Aaron Rodgers behind their Brett Favre.
Didn't matter. 2-6 was not good enough, and youth or inexperience sure as heck weren't going to be an excuse. While Tomlin's job deals a lot with the Xs and Os, having his players buy into the belief that they could win is just as important, especially at a young age. And whatever was said during that meeting or any other that took place during the bye week, it worked.
Now, the goal next year is to not have to wait until a midseason bye week for a reality check -- that this group will remember what got them in the early mess and learn from it.
"Hopefully, the benefit is not to get yourself in those circumstances," Tomlin said regarding how he'll judge this season in its totality. "But those are things to be pondered as we wrap a bow around it and things of that nature and start our planning. ... Obviously, there's some benefit to being a part of something, smiling in the face of adversity and growing and pushing through some difficult times and having your back against the wall professionally. There's growth there for sure. What it means and all of that, we'll get to it."
What it means is Tomlin has to take that competitive fire into the offseason and channel it in a way to best set up his team for 2023. Deciding Matt Canada's fate will be part of that. How to potentially fill the void left by Brian Flores if he takes a better job elsewhere will too. Does that competitive fire burn on into free agency by adding impact pieces to build a better roster? All of this and much, much more now lie ahead as Tomlin's next challenge.
"I'm really just starting to sink my teeth into it," Tomlin said. "We don't prepare for failure. We'll proceed methodically through this. We'll probably move a little slower than most of our peers, but we don't worry about the Joneses. We've got a business model, one that we believe in, and we'll be thorough in doing so and in assessing what transpired in an effort to tee up our next opportunity, and at the appropriate time we'll start work in that area."
The naysayers will naysay, and Tomlin will be the first to admit that three playoff wins in 12 years isn't up to the 'Standard' that he sets for his team. But, Tomlin's work to help motivate a young team into believing they could compete in 2022 had nothing to do with preserving a streak of non-losing seasons. They wanted to get into the dance this year. As young teams often do, it was too little too late.
However, it could be launchpad they needed so they can compete in 2023.
"My agenda is getting in the single-elimination tournament and pursuing the confetti game and winning it. That agenda will never change," Tomlin said. "The totality of past experiences and stuff, man, I just -- I'm a competitor. I like to compete continually. I love the challenge that this game and this job provides. I'm wired in that way."
MORE FROM THE SOUTH SIDE
• If you truly believe Tomlin cares about the non-losing season streak, just get it out of your head. The only thing this man cares about is winning Super Bowls.
"I've spent little time assessing the totality of things, particularly if it doesn't light a fire under me, if I can't utilize it as fuel in an effort to be ready for the adversity that awaits," Tomlin said. "So, talking about accolades and trivial things and streaks and things of that nature, if it's not useful to me in terms of assessing our next battles, then I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it or focusing on it."
Yes, coaches should be judged on results, Tomlin included. But, believing that all he wants to do is finish above .500 is just not true. The criticisms for Tomlin should go far beyond that.
• Of course, Tomlin was asked about Canada's performance as offensive coordinator and if he'll be in Pittsburgh for the final year of his contract. And of course, Tomlin did not reveal any of that information in a formal setting.
"I thought he got better, just like our team got better. I'm not going to speculate about him or anyone as I stand here today," Tomlin said. "Just as I mentioned, we fight, and that fight has come to an end. I'm just beginning the process of transitioning in terms of wrapping a bow around it and looking and seeing what 2023 looks like. I'm just not there. We've got some work to do. But largely, I thought he got better in the ways that we got better, so it was encouraging."
• Tomlin confirmed Monday that he's already received a request from another team to interview Flores for a defensive coordinator position. Alex Stumpf has more on that and Canada in a separate piece.
• Finding the potential long-term replacement for Roethlisberger is a massive accomplishment for the Steelers. Anyone who watched the Steelers between Terry Bradshaw and Ben ought to know. As far as what Tomlin's looking forward to about having Pickett at quarterback next season, it comes down to one thing and one thing only.
"Growth," Tomlin said. "You guys know, here in Pittsburgh, we value the growth that has the potential to happen between Year 1 and Year 2. It's natural. They're no longer speculating about what this is. They've had a lap around the track. They've been in some hot situations. They've had some positive results. They've had some negative results. They understand the totality of this in terms of the total that it takes on them, mentally, physically, emotionally. I think all of those things that encompass the experience that is a rookie season is a good springboard to get better and to obviously do it with a quarterback, I'm really excited about that."
• Tomlin didn't go through a lot of things with a fine-tooth comb, as he likes to put it, during his Monday press conference. However, he did go through his thought process on the quarterback position. From starting Mitch Trubisky out of the gate to the switch to Pickett at halftime in Week 4, Tomlin seemed to indicate he wouldn't have changed his handling of it.
"I think (Pickett's) development is a process, and we've said throughout, I've thought his development took off once he started getting into stadiums in the preseason, so there was a process there. He was playing in the third groups. He was playing in the second groups. We gave him some first-group exposure. Preseason football is different than regular season football; let's be honest," Tomlin said. "So, he bided his time and worked in a regular football season environment, and when he had an opportunity, when it presented itself, he showed that he belonged, and he continued to get better in that space. As I look back at it, I don't know that I have any second thoughts or regrets about the process or how it transpired as I sit here right now. Maybe I'll think differently as I analyze it in an end-of-season kind of way in the upcoming weeks, but knee-jerk reaction to your question, no, I don't have any regrets about it as I stand here this morning."
• Regarding all of the impending free agents that spoke to the media Monday afternoon, just about all of them expressed a desire to return. Zach Gentry said, "I have so much love for this organization and the people who are here, so it’s going to be quite the process, quite the journey." Terrell Edmunds said Pittsburgh is "home base." Cam Sutton said, "This is home." Robert Spillane said repeatedly that he loves the organization. Damontae Kazee told me he loved his experience here.
Of course, business is business. But, the Steelers definitely didn't burn any bridges with anyone who was in the locker room Monday.
• No, Mason Rudolph wasn't anywhere to be found today. He certainly wasn't the only one of the 53 on the roster to not be there. None of the quarterbacks were there. However, it would have been quite interesting to get his take on upcoming free agency.
• Great news on the injury front. Pat Freiermuth has an MCL sprain in his left knee and does not need surgery. That bodes very well for 2023.
• The plan for this week is to go through all of the exit interviews and all the medical stuff with the players. Pretty much, this week is players' week when it comes to wrapping up the 2022 season. Attention will turn to the coaching staff after that. As Tomlin said, the Steelers will move through this process rather slowly.
