Whenever the Steelers hit a rough patch, a chunk of the team’s fanbase begins to clamor for a coaching change. Amid the team’s current struggles, featuring history-making home losses against a pair of two-win teams, the noise has returned.
And it’s perhaps louder than ever.
Would the Steelers move on from Mike Tomlin? With three coaches since 1969, it’s not their way. With Tomlin having no losing seasons in his first 16 years on the job, it’s inconceivable to believe the Steelers would push Tomlin out if they fail to make the playoffs and fail to finish at or above .500.
That doesn’t mean it’s not time for a change. The question becomes whether Tomlin might think it’s time to leave. He’s got one year left on his contract. He could finish it out and become a free agent; that’s something few NFL coaches ever do. He also could resign, sit out a year, and come back to a new team in 2025 (with compensation to Pittsburgh).
Or the Steelers could essentially trade Tomlin after the coming season.
At a time when there’s plenty of speculation as to whether another team might try to make a move to hire Patriots coach Bill Belichick (with or without compensation), why not call the Steelers regarding Tomlin?
Between the two coaches, Tomlin arguably would be more desirable. He’s 20 years younger, which means he’d have much longer potential tenure as the coach than Belichick.
And Tomlin has done very well. Sure, it’s been 15 years since his only Super Bowl win. Yeah, the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since 2016. Regardless, plenty of teams have done a lot worse than the Steelers over the past 17 years.
Continuous relevance, for owners, is far more important than a once-per-generation Super Bowl run. The teams that contend each and every year sell all of their tickets — and they see those tickets actually used. Which means more overpriced drinks, hot dogs, and other stuff being sold on game day. More prime-time games. And, as a result, a lot more money.
Look at the teams that could be looking for new coaches. Think of what Tomlin could do for the Commanders, the Chargers, the Bears, or the Buccaneers.
Again, this isn’t about whether the Steelers would fire him. This is about whether Tomlin would be ready and willing to move on. And it’s about whether the Steelers would make a reasonable request for compensation, given that Tomlin needs only to coach one more year before securing the ability to go wherever he chooses as the rarest of NFL commodities.
A head-coaching free agent.
Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin’s media availability on Thursday was focused on comments his wife made on social media this week.
Godwin’s wife Mariah said that Bucs head coach Todd Bowles was “blatantly lying” for saying Godwin’s lack of targets last week were due to the team subbing Godwin out a lot because he was questionable with a neck injury coming into the weekend. Godwin played 82 percent of the team’s offensive snaps in a 21-18 win over the Panthers and he said on Thursday that his wife’s intent was to show that he works his “ass off to make sure I’m ready to play” every week.
Godwin also said he didn’t feel “disrespected” by anything Bowles said and that he met with both Bowles and offensive coordinator Dave Canales this week. He said the conversations left him feeling like everyone is on the same page.
“I’ve never had any malice or like ill will to Dave or Coach Bowles or anybody,” Godwin said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “I think I have a really good relationship with them. They’re all part of the team and I consider them to be like cool people to me. So now it’s how to move forward and make this the best that we can make it because we want to win, we want to go to the playoffs. . . . Nobody is beefing. We’re all great right now.”
Canales said Thursday that Godwin “is just magic with the ball” and that he put it on himself to do a better job of making sure they get the ball to the receiver against Atlanta this weekend and in the future.
The Buccaneers will play four more games regardless of the result of Sunday’s matchup with the Falcons, but the chances that those games are meaningful will go way down if they don’t win.
Atlanta is 6-6 and they’ve already beaten the Bucs this season, so another loss would make the path to a division title in Tampa a very difficult one. Those circumstances explain why right guard Cody Mauch said the team is adopting a playoff mentality as they prepare for their trip to Atlanta.
“We’re treating it like a playoff game, because, really, for us, it is,” Mauch said, via Jenna Laine of ESPN.com. “You’ve got to keep winning, especially these division games. That’s just kind of the mentality for us.”
That feeling comes from the top down. Head coach Todd Bowles said at his Wednesday press conference that “every game we play from here on out is a playoff game” and that this game is of particular importance.
“December football,” Bowles said. “It’s a round-robin tournament until the end. We understand the importance of this game. If we can win this one, the next game will be more important than that one. It’s the biggest game this week, it’s the only game this week. It’s a division rival. They’re one game ahead of us. We know we’ve got to try to catch up, they know they’ve got to keep a lead.”
The stakes are clear and we’ll find out soon enough if the Bucs are up to the task.
The Buccaneers aren’t the team they’ve been in recent years. And the cracks are spreading.
Via JoeBucsFan.com, the wife of receiver Chris Godwin has taken to social media to take issue with a claim from coach Todd Bowles that Godwin was targeted only three times against the Panthers because the Bucs were “subbing him out a lot.”
The truth is that Godwin was on the field for 52 snaps, which equates to 82 percent of all offensive plays in the game.
“I’m not sure why we are just blatantly lying here,” Mariah Godwin wrote on Instagram, via JoeBucsFan.com. “Regardless of how banged up Chris is, he continues to work his ass off and hasn’t missed a game. [C]ontinues to run great routes and get open. . . .
“I don’t know why things are the way they are, this isn’t my team to coach. But this lying on Chris and implying negativity on his work ethic is infuriating. Let’s not act like he had to be subbed out so much more than usual when in fact he’s been playing just the same.”
The comments will make the futures of both Godwin and Bowles far more interesting. The Bucs can easily exit Godwin’s contract after the 2023 season. The Bucs also might move on from Todd Bowles and hire a new coach.
Through 12 games in 2023, Godwin has 85 targets, 53 catches, 606 yards, and one touchdown. On Sunday, the 5-7 Bucs visit the 6-6 Falcons, with a chance to forge what could be a three-way tie at the top of the division, if the Saints also beat the Panthers on Sunday.
The Buccaneers got a much-needed win last Sunday and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. had a big hand in providing it.
Winfield recorded eight tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss, and two passes defensed over the first 57-plus minutes of the game and then sealed the win with just over two minutes left. Winfield picked off a pass by Panthers quarterback Bryce Young near midfield and the Bucs were able to run out the clock on a 21-18 win.
The NFL announced on Wednesday that Winfield’s performance earned him recognition as the NFC defensive player of the week for the first time in his career.
Winfield has 89 tackles, three sacks, two interceptions, 11 passes defensed, three forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries this season.
