Mike Tomlin deserves credit for what the Steelers are doing in 2019

The 6-5 Steelers take on the 5-6 Browns at Heinz Field this Sunday in the biggest game between the two franchises since Cleveland came to town for a wildcard showdown following the 2002 regular season.

If Pittsburgh wins, it will put itself in a prime position to make the playoffs with just four games to go in the 2019 regular season.

Who would have thought? Not me. Certainly not you, either, not after the season-ending elbow injury suffered by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in Week 2, along with losses in four of the first five games.

A double-digit-loss season seemed likely this year. Angst over the decision to trade away the 2020 first-round pick for Minkah Fitzpatrick seemed likely next spring.

Yet, here we are, the Steelers are 6-5. The Steelers can still make the playoffs as the sixth seed in the AFC. For that matter, the Steelers still have more than a realistic chance to catch the 8-3 Bills for the fifth seed.

Head coach Mike Tomlin deserves a lot of credit for this. Not only has he had to deal with the loss of his franchise player, other key contributors have also missed time—including running back James Conner, receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and defensive end Stephon Tuitt, who is out for the rest of the season with a torn pectoral muscle.

But if you listen to some folks, the general sentiment following Pittsburgh’s ugly 16-10 victory over the 0-10 Bengals on Sunday has been: “I’m supposed to give Tomlin and his staff credit for beating a winless team (twice) and a few other bad squads?”

Yes, yes you are. Why? Those black and gold uniforms aren’t magical, my friend. I realize this may be hard for many Steelers fans to grasp, but just because they have a rich history and fans who expect a lot, that’s not going to help turn Mason Rudolph or Devlin Hodges into a franchise quarterback.

Those six Super Bowls aren’t going to turn receiver Deon Cain, a practice squad player just 10 minutes ago, into Jerry Rice.

Face it, faithful Steelers supporter, this team is severely compromised on offense. It’s running out players—multiple players, mind you—who weren’t on anyone’s roster at the beginning of the season—or even two weeks ago, in the cases of Cain and running back Kerrith Whyte Jr.

I don’t want to hear about scheme and play calls or that Randy Fichtner should be fired as offensive coordinator. When you have to sit down for hours and bring a practice squad player up to speed on the playbook—this is what Fichtner did with Cain just days before Sunday’s game, according to the CBS announce crew—you’re swimming upstream against a very rough current.

I don’t want to hear about how Tomlin shouldn’t be given credit for beating teams he’s supposed to beat. Supposed to beat? I got some more news for you, my friend, there are no supposed to anythings when it comes to these 2019 Pittsburgh Steelers. There are no trap games—not unless Pittsburgh is the underdog setting the trap.

There are so many bad teams in the NFL in 2019, just about every playoff contender has benefited from playing at least a few of them.

That the Steelers are catching flak for being one of the teams who have benefited from playing some of these awful tankers and not one of the awful tankers, themselves, is a minor miracle.

As of this writing, the Steelers are a slim underdog to the Browns at Heinz Field this Sunday. Let that sink in for a moment.

“Let’s see what he does without Big Ben” is a popular refrain for many Tomlin detractors.

The 2019 season has shown you what he can do.

Give the man some credit, my friend.