In the wake of his resignation as Steelers coach last week, there was much discussion about Mike Tomlin’s legacy.
How should it be viewed? How much was it damaged by the lack of postseason success over much of the last 15 years? Will the 19 years of nonlosing football ever be viewed separately from the corresponding failure to win a playoff game in 15 of those campaigns?
I’m not going to candy-coat things. It didn’t end well.
The Acrisure Stadium chants of “Fi-re Tom-lin” multiple times in 2025 won’t be forgotten. Bill Cowher and Chuck Noll didn’t go out as division champions, but there was still significantly less acrimony.
Noll had more Super Bowl rings. Cowher was just a year removed from winning his. No such luck for Tomlin.
To this point, Tomlin hasn’t helped matters by leaving without a press conference. Noll did so even though he was unhappy about ownership demands to get rid of Joe Walton. Cowher did so despite some rumblings that his resignation was at least partially due to some discord about his contract.
Tomlin just issued a statement through the team.
But this, too, shall pass. No need to clutch pearls on this front.
Give it a little time, and Tomlin will be remembered more as the guy who won a Super Bowl and went to another than the guy who couldn’t win a playoff game to save his life the last nine years.
In 2028, when the 2008 Super Bowl team has its 20th anniversary night at some point at Acrisure Stadium, Tomlin will be cheered, not booed.
Well, provided he shows up … and he’s not coaching an AFC rival team by that point (which I don’t rule out).
You know how I know that? James Harrison. That’s how.
Harrison was reviled around these parts after he forced his way out of town to the hated New England Patriots during the 2017 season.
For a few years, he was persona non grata in Pittsburgh. Now he’s in the franchise’s Hall of Honor, and his image is on the videoboard addressing fans before every home game.
Based on the reaction Jaromir Jagr got in this city when his number was retired in 2024, he’s just as popular in retirement as he was as a Penguin.
That’s after a decade of being jeered here while wearing multiple jerseys after he was traded out of town under less than ideal circumstances after the 2001 playoffs.
Even Barry Bonds got a big ovation when he was inducted into the Pirates Hall of Fame two years ago.
But Harrison was the one who got me thinking about how Tomlin’s past will be remembered in the future. After all, it was Harrison who said last week that Tomlin shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame and hasn’t developed a good coaching tree.
It’s not the first time Harrison has ripped Tomlin — or the team itself — during his own retirement. It certainly won’t be the last.
But, sure, when you need a crowd pop, roll an in-stadium highlight of ol’ No. 92 planting Ed Reed into the turf on that punt return in 2007 and show him screaming to the fans.
The same dynamic will happen for Tomlin as well. We forget what we want to forget, and we remember what makes us happy.
No one dwells on Noll’s last 12 seasons when thinking about his legacy — even though they featured just two playoff wins.
We didn’t have many “Fi-re Cow-her” chants at Three Rivers from 1998-2000. But it got tense. Those days are barely referenced now because of Super Bowl XL.
We’ll get there eventually with Tomlin, too.
Winning quickly with the next coach sure would help. Modern-day success always amplifies yesterday’s nostalgia.
And a little tip of the cap on the way out the door from Tomlin wouldn’t hurt either.
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