One Move Almost Stopped Mike Tomlin From Joining Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers currently employ the longest-tenured head coach in the four major professional sports leagues.

Head coach Mike Tomlin has been a consistent face in the city of Pittsburgh since he was hired as the head coach in 2007. At the time, Tomlin had finished his first season as the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings and was chosen as part of a tough decision process. Now, one media member believes one small decision could have stopped Tomlin from getting the job.

Florio Outlines The History

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk took to his podcast to break down the fact that Tomlin's head coach at the time, Brad Childress, was being considered for firing so Tomlin could stay in Minnesota. This was potentially going to be done in order to keep him from taking the Pittsburgh job, which he eventually took anyway.

"I was pushing for Mike Tomlin to be coach of the Steelers in 2007," Florio said. "Remember, they had the whole, it was gonna be Russ Grimm, and then it wasn't. I was banging the drum for Tomlin. I found out, years later, that there was actually some conversation in Minnesota about telling Brad Childress after one year, 'Thanks for everything, now leave. We're gonna make your one-year defensive coordinator the head coach in order to keep him from becoming the coach of the Steelers',That conversation actually happened within the walls of the Vikings' organization."

Since Then...

As we now know, the move largely paid off for the Steelers organization. They won a Super Bowl under his tutelage, and he has not had a losing season during his entire tenure with the team. On the other hand, Childress lasted til the middle of the 2010 season, getting fired as the team boasted a 3-7 record through ten games.