The Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7) capped off their NFL record 20th consecutive season of finishing .500 or better by picking up a 17-10 victory over the Baltimore Ravens (13-4) Saturday.
17 of those seasons have been under head coach Mike Tomlin, who has been lauded for his consistency over the years. This season has been one of Tomlin’s best coaching jobs yet, as the Steelers finished the regular season with three consecutive wins behind their third-string quarterback, Mason Rudolph, and with a minus 20-point differential. Pittsburgh is only the 5th team in NFL history to win 10 plus games and have a point differential of minus 20 or worse, per Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot.
The key to the Steelers’ sustained success? If you were to ask running back Najee Harris, the answer is clear: It’s Tomlin, just as it’s always been.
“To get 10 wins is good for the team, but also Mike T,” Harris said, via the team’s website. “Just a good coach. He’s been carrying us along this whole year. I think that it really showed how resilient and how calm he always is, even when stuff looks bad. A lot of negative stuff being said, and he always just stays the same person. So, happy for Mike T and the team.”
Steelers grind out victory in tough conditions
It seems ages ago that Tomlin was supposedly on the hot seat after the Steelers dropped to 7-7 following a 6-3 start. Since then, the team has rallied around Rudolph and grinded out victories, as they did in Baltimore with rainy and chilly conditions to deal with. It was Harris who led the way, rushing for 112 yards on 26 carries and score.
Both teams had trouble holding onto the football, as they combined for eight fumbles. Tomlin credited his team for fighting through the conditions to earn a victory.
“I am just really appreciative of the effort of the guys,” Tomlin said. “Obviously, this is a tough place to play. Probably three or four years in a row we have been able to come up here and get it done. Thankful for that, for the efforts. It was a tough environment today from a climate environment. The ball security factor was a challenge. But it was a challenge for both teams. I thought it was significant in terms of how the game unfolded, particularly for us. We were down there in scoring territory a couple of times and came away with no points because of lack of ball security.
“Like I said it was going to be a challenging environment and it was. Thankfully we made enough plays to secure victory.”
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