Mike Tomlin leaving Steelers would be best for both parties

Eventually, all good things have to come to an end. The Pittsburgh Steelers and head coach Mike Tomlin might both need to take a minute to think about that sentence and figure out if they have both gone as far as they can with one another. 

Especially after another stunning late-season collapse, another season without a postseason win and another embarrassing postseason defeat where the team was not even competitive.

The latest such loss was Saturday's 28-14 defeat at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens, a game that was not anywhere as close as the final score might indicate. And the final score doesn't even really indicate a close game anyway. 

It was just simply worse than the final numbers, 

It completed a bitterly disappointing end to the season that saw the Steelers lose five consecutive games, getting completely dominated by three Super Bowl contenders in the process (Baltimore two different times, Philadelphia and Kansas City) that showed they are not on the same level. Or even close to it.

It puts the Steelers in a brutal position.

On one hand, they still have the look of a competitive team, and there is a reason to argue that they have probably overachieved the past two seasons given their quarterback situation. They still regularly win 10 games. They still make the playoffs. They probably win more games than the preseason expectations. Tomlin himself has never had a losing year in his 18 seasons on the Steelers sidelines. They are never bad.

There is a lot to be said for that.  

The problem is they are never really particularly great, either, and are no longer a serious contender to compete for the Super Bowl. That has to start falling on Tomlin more than it has. Especially given the way they have lost. 

They have not won a playoff game since the 2016 season, a run of eight consecutive years. They are 0-5 in the postseason in that stretch, while they have been completely dominated in every single one of them, falling behind by double-digits in the first half of each game. Saturday's game was 21-0 at halftime. 

The Steelers want to win by playing a physical, smash-mouth brand of football built on defense. While the NFL is more of a passing league driven by quarterback play, it is still possible to win that way. As long as you are good at running the ball and playing defense. That is Tomlin's preferred strategy. 

But the defense has not been as good as it needs to be, and the running game has consistently failed. There is no innovation on offense, there is no set scheme or plan, and they have not been able to find a solution at quarterback. 

It is hard to imagine them doing so anytime soon, and it is becoming even harder to imagine the current coaching staff being able to develop one. 

The whole operation is just stale. It is consistent mediocrity. 

Head coaches do not last this long with one team in any other city except for Pittsburgh. Part of that is due to the sustained success the franchise has had over the past 50 seasons. But eventually, even when you are still good, things can start to become stale after nearly two decades together. 

The Steelers might need a new voice and mindset that can take them from a second-tier team back to a top-tier team and just change the whole feel of the franchise. 

Tomlin might need a fresh start and a new challenge.

Overall his tenure has been an overwhelming success. But the success is not quite what it used to be. Sometimes everybody just needs a change.