Recent Comments Expose Mike Tomlin's Complete Unwillingness To Adapt With The Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are known as one of the most loyal organizations in all of sports, and that is shown by the head coaching history with the franchise. The team just hired its fourth head coach since the 1969 offseason in Mike McCarthy, who will be replacing Mike Tomlin after he stepped down following the 2025 season. Many fans had been calling for Tomlin to be fired for years, but he was the one that parted ways with the Steelers, not the other way around. The former head coach was praised by many, but others saw the flaws in his coaching style and his unwillingness to change.

Tomlin will always be remembered in a positive light for his time in Pittsburgh. He helped bring the city a Super Bowl, but the lack of recent playoff success continued to pile up over the last several seasons. When the former head coach announced he was stepping down, there was a ton of immediate praise for his time with the Steelers and his time in the NFL overall. However, some players decided to tell some stories that might not paint him in the best light. Players have also exposed some of his underwhelming coaching tactics. Patrick Queen recently joined Breiden Fehoko on The Fehoko Show, and he spoke about Pittsburgh's defensive scheme in the past.

"I think Cover 3 is the hardest coverage to play because it's so much," Queen said. "It's repetitive, for one. You've seen it since third grade, and it's just a lot of no-man's land. I think 3-Match is great versus certain concepts. But it's tough. If y'all don't know Cincinnati, Cincinnati always hits Tee Higgins on that curl, skinny post, whatever you want to call it. So that's the hardest stuff to guard in Cover 3 because you're limited in no-man's land. If I go left, he throws right. If I go right, he throws left. But you've got to be rotating as a defense. But the thing is, you can rotate, boom, he hits you with a pump, then come back, he's open."

The Steelers' defense deployed Cover 3 a good amount under Tomlin and former defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, which is concerning since the quarterback of the defense was saying how vulnerable it is to certain teams. Adjusting to your players' strengths is extremely important, and this is a prime example of Tomlin and the staff not doing that.

Queen mentioned that this coverage is extremely susceptible against a team like the Cincinnati Bengals, and that was on full display in 2025. Pittsburgh got completely embarrassed by the Bengals on Thursday Night Football as Joe Flacco threw for over 340 yards and three touchdowns. The passing game came easy for the Bengals during that contest, and Queen's comments shed some light on why that might've been the case.

There was always discussion about whether Austin called the defensive plays, but the system was mostly Tomlin's. Austin was essentially ordering off Tomlin's menu. Both are to blame, but regardless, the defense needed to change and neither coach took initiative to put that into action consistently enough throughout the last few seasons.

Steelers' Defensive Approach Has To Be Different

Patrick Graham is the new defensive coordinator under McCarthy. He is known for being willing to change and calls the defense to the strength of the players on the field. That is a reason for optimism for the fan base in Pittsburgh.

That didn't seem to always be the case with Tomlin. Former players like Darius Slay have come out and questioned the odd defensive tactics that were taught in Pittsburgh, and hopefully those have come to an end.