Tomlin seems incapable of coaching

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin does not seem to be capable of preparing the team properly for the big games in the playoffs. They did win the Super Bowl in 2008 with Mr. Tomlin as coach, but was it still the team that Bill Cohwer had built?

Over the last 10 years, Mr. Tomlin’s team has made the playoffs six times. They lost in the first round in four of those six seasons. It would have been five first-round losses if not for a complete meltdown by Burfict and Jones of the Bengals in 2015 that gave the Steelers 30 yards on the last drive to get into field goal range.

The last two first-round exits have been complete failures: 2017 against Jacksonville and 2020 against Cleveland. In 2017, Mr. Tomlin completely looked past Jacksonville by commenting after the loss to the Patriots in the last game of the regular season that we will see them again. In 2020, they played a Browns team missing coaches and top players and still got beaten badly. Just getting to the playoffs might be OK with most NFL fan bases. In Pittsburgh, getting to the playoffs is required and a longer-than-onegame playoff is expected.

There has been too much talent on this team over the last 10 years to have only three wins and six losses in six playoff appearances. It is getting very old to keep hearing after every firstround exit that we did not execute, coaches did not prepare the team, we just weren’t good enough — all the excuses. Maybe after the first couple of times the coach should make changes so that the team is prepared. Since Mr. Tomlin appears to be unable to get the team prepared properly for the playoffs, it is now time for a change of the coach.

BOB GEIER

Fairfax, Va. The writer is a native of Duquesne Heights.