3 things Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin needs to fix in 2019

The Steelers have one of the most winning head coaches in football, but here are three things Mike Tomlin needs to work on in 2019.

It’s hard to sit here and complain about the job head coach, Mike Tomlin, has done since taking over in Pittsburgh. The Steelers record since Tomlin took the reins in 2007 is 125-66-1, and he has never posted a season record with less than 8 wins.

Some teams are dying to have a head coach like Mike Tomlin, but Steelers fans aren’t happy with every choice the veteran head coach makes. Here are three things coach Tomlin needs to work on to help his team in 2019:

Getting prepared against bad opponents

This isn’t necessarily all Tomlin’s fault, but it seems like his team has a knack for underestimating the inferior competition. The Steelers dropped a game to the Raiders last season that didn’t look like anyone showed up to play. They also had a 6-turnover game against Cleveland in week one of the season that resulted in a tie.

Last year wasn’t anything out of the norm when it came to getting prepared against bad teams. In 2017, the Steelers lost an overtime game to the Mike Glennon and the Chicago Bears, and in 2016 they were blown out by the Dolphins.

Each of these heart-wrenching losses came on the road, and Tomlin’s record against losing teams while traveling is not good. Coach Tomlin needs to find a way to get his team prepared to win these games; they should down the stretch.

Treating his players the same

Part of being able to control the locker room comes with the need for Tomlin to treat each of his players the same.

Listen to an interview of any Patriots player and they will tell you that there is no favoritism in New England. Bill Belichick has been known to come down hard on players during practice – regardless of whether it’s Tom Brady or the 53rd man on the roster.

Tomlin needs to take a note from his playbook. He treats his stars differently, and it shows. Tomlin let players like Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell get away with things with a mere slap on the wrist. He needs to establish his authority and let the team know that he is just when it comes to discipline.

Bell and Brown are responsible for their actions and might have been destructive players under different coaching. However, Tomlin enabling them to act the way they did wasn’t helping the locker room. He needs to start treating his players the same.

Challenges

Is there a worse coach in the league when it comes to challenging plays that shouldn’t be challenged? Tomlin has won just 32 of 71 challenges in his coaching career with the Steelers and seems to be getting much worse as the seasons roll on.

Tomlin has won zero challenges since 2016 (despite attempting 9), and he is 8 of 27 on challenges in the past 5 seasons. This poor stat isn’t going to make or break a good coach, but if we can see things that should/shouldn’t be challenged when sitting in our living rooms, I don’t know how Tomlin seems to miss them so often.

Some coaches would present a much more extensive list of things to complain about than Mike Tomlin, but the Steelers coach is not without his flaws. Most of the time, Tomlin is cool, calm, and collected whether his team is putting up wins or losses. However, these three things about Tomlin make us want to lose our minds at times. Let’s hope he works on them in 2019.