Rodgers slams unfair scrutiny on NFL coaches, defending Tomlin amidst calls for dismissal. He believes media and social platforms fuel misguided criticism.
The calls for Mike Tomlin’s firing began on social media even before the game had ended.
Tomlin’s Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Houston Texans 30-6 on Monday night in an AFC Wild Card playoff game at Acrisure Stadium. The coach tied an ignominious NFL record with his seventh straight postseason loss, matching Marvin Lewis’ playoff skid with the Cincinnati Bengals from 2005-15.
Tomlin has famously never had a losing season in his 19 years with the Steelers. Tomlin is also the longest-tenured active head coach or manager across the four North American professional sports leagues. And the Steelers have had just three coaches since 1969 – Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Tomlin.
Yet there is a sense that Tomlin might have coached his last game with the Steelers on Monday night. There has been speculation that Tomlin and the Steelers will mutually part ways, with the coach transitioning into broadcasting.
Whether that happens remains to be seen, and, not surprisingly, Tomlin declined to address the situation following Monday night’s game.
“I’m not in the big-picture perspective,” Tomlin said. “I’m just not in that mindset. I don’t think about the totality of it. You pour everything that you have into these performances and what goes on tonight.”
The Steelers have gone nine seasons without a playoff win, but quarterback Aaron Rodgers defended Tomlin after what might have been the 42-year-old’s final game. While Rodgers didn’t shed much light on whether he will retire, the 21-year veteran did make it clear that he feels coaches face too much scrutiny in today’s world.
Rodgers also mentioned how Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur was under fire after losing to the Chicago Bears last Saturday night in an NFC Wild Card game. However, it appears LaFleur be retained by the Packers and signed to a contract extension.
“This league has changed a lot in my 21 years,” Rodgers said. “When you hear conversation about the Mike Tomlins of the world, Matt LaFleurs of the world, those are just two that I've played for. When I first got in the league, there wouldn't be conversation about whether those guys were on the hot seat. But the way that the league is covered now and the way that there's snap decisions and the validity given to the Twitter experts and all the experts on TV now who make it seem like they know what the hell they're talking about, to me, that's an absolute joke.
“For either of those two guys to be on the hot seat is really apropos of where we're at as a society and as a league because obviously Matt has done a lot of great things in Green Bay, and we had a lot of success. Mike T. has had more success than damn near anybody in the league for the last 19, 20 years. More than that, though, when you have the right guy and the culture is right, you don't think about making a change.
“But there's a lot of pressure that comes from the outside, and obviously that sways decisions from time to time,” Rodgers continued. “But that's not how I would do things and not how the league used to be.”