Steelers' Mike Tomlin is slowly transforming into polarizing former head coach

The Pittsburgh Steelers' Wild Card performance against the Baltimore Ravens was embarrassing for coaches, players, and the fanbase. But the sting of disappointment doesn't begin and end with a lone postseason loss. This was one of many playoff failures writing a new story for head coach Mike Tomlin... and it isn't a pretty one.

I'm sure you've heard by now that, with the playoff loss to the Ravens, the Steelers continued their eight-year drought without a single playoff win. But did you realize that this team has just three postseason wins over the past 14 seasons?

From the height of Ben Roethlisberger's career until now, the Steelers managed to muster up playoff wins against just three opponents from 2011 to 2024. This sorry display of postseason success looks even worse when you see it displayed on a graphic like the one below.

Adding context here only fuels the burring rage Steelers fans are feeling. In Pittsburgh's 2015 playoff game against Cincinnati, the Bengals had essentially wrapped up a win and were chewing time off the clock before Ryan Shazier forced a fumble to give Pittsburgh a chance. It also took a bone-headed penalty from Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict for the Steelers to find themselves in a position to win this game.

Mind you, this contest didn't even come against quarterback Andy Dalton. Rather, it was backup QB AJ McCarron who nearly got the job done against the Steelers in the playoffs.

Following the 2016 regular season, the Steelers had their best playoff run over the past 14 years. However, their first win of the postseason came against Dolphins backup quarterback Matt Moore (who Bud Dupree knocked out of the game) before going to Kansas City to narrowly defeat Alex Smith and the Chiefs in an 18-16 outing.

That's it. These were the only three playoff games Mike Tomlin has won since the 2010 postseason.

Mike Tomlin's recent years with Steelers resemble Marty Schottenheimer

Mike Tomlin will always be known as a Super Bowl-winning head coach. But that Super Bowl victory against the Arizona Cardinals felt like a lifetime ago, and for many of the young generation of Steelers fans, it literally was.

Since the Steelers' last deep playoff run that resulted in a loss to the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl, Pittsburgh has found virtually no success in the postseason. This hascaused us to draw comparisons between Tomlin and polarizing former NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer.

Schottenheimer wasn't a bad coach by any stretch. In the first half of his head coaching with the Browns and Chiefs, Schottenheimer had an excellent record of 231-145, which equated to a win rate of 61.44 percent.

For the first 14 seasons as a head coach, Schottenheimer never had a losing record. But in the second half of his coaching career things became... stale. Schottenheimer remained a highly-respected NFL head coach, but his utter lack of postseason success didn't sit well with fans.

Tomlin has a Super Bowl win—something Schottenheimer does not—but over the past 14 years of his tenure, the Steelers head coach has numbers that are remarkably similar to a former head coach who was known only for his regular-season success.

Tomlin's previous 14 years included nine postseason appearances, 12 total playoff games, and three victories. Meanwhile, Schottenheimer's final 14 seasons as an NFL head coach included eight playoff appearances, 11 total playoff games, and three wins.

We know Tomlin is going to be in the Hall of Fame one day thanks to the success he found early in his career. But at this point, we have a 14-year sample of recent play that suggests fans should have no confidence that Tomlin will be the coach to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to postseason success.