To all Mike Tomlin haters: The Steelers chose the best option at Head Coach

A local product got down to the final list but did not stay in Pittsburgh

There were a couple of in-house options on the table for the black and gold when they were looking for Cowher's replacement. Some of the coaching tree that he had in place were impressive during that time. That is something that Tomlin has always struggled with his coaching staff, finding coaches that could go on to become top coaches elsewhere.

One name that carried historic relevance across the NFL that was with the organization at the time was Russ Grimm. He had been with the Steelers since 2001 at that point and helped the offensive line become a steady group in the NFL. The former Hall of Fame guard for the Washington organization was a finalist for the top job in the Steel City.

It would have been a nice story to watch play out as Grimm was a local Pittsburgh guy with his roots in Scottdale, PA. It would have had some resemblance to Cowher taking of the Steelers back in the 90s, but things did not work out that way. He would not be selected as the next head coach of the club, and he would move on to coach elsewhere as an offensive line coach until 2017.

No one could ever knock Grimm's work in the trenches either as a player or coach in the NFL. He was impressive in both aspects. His lack of experience as either a coordinator or lead man on an NFL club might have been one of his biggest flaws. Tomlin brought new ideas and some different juice that Grimm just would not have been able to accomplish.