JUST COOLIN’—STEELERS HEAD COACH MIKE TOMLIN ISN’T CONCERNED ABOUT HIS DETRACTORS. (PHOTO BY MIKE PATTON)
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“I think he’s a great leader. Just the way that he carries himself in and out of the building, how he motivates me and gets me to follow his lead. I think he’s done a heck of a job sitting in there, listening to his team meetings. Anything that he has to say or his point of view about things. He’s coached some great players in his past, and I’m just trying to add to that list with the way that I play.” (Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver D.K. Metcalf)
Hear ye, hear ye, boys and girls. The “Yinzer” firing squad arrived in Baltimore a day prior to the game between the Ravens and the Steelers on Dec. 7, 2025, with their favorite undertakers, preparing to embalm and escort the Steelers’ playoff hopes back to Pittsburgh in a hoopty hearse, with three flat tires and a leaky transmission that was about to blow.
The Mike Tomlin character assassins were also armed and loaded for lions, tigers and bears, oh my. However, a strange thing happened on the way to the Coliseum. The game officials kicked Caesar to the curb and gave a collective thumbs up to the Black and Gold and exhumed the bones of Edgar Allen Poe, the “King of the Ouija Board” and his pet Raven, “Harbaugh Hank.”
The following is an excerpt from “Steelers ignore noise, back Mike Tomlin in win vs. Ravens,” an article written by Brooke Pryor and posted on espn.com.
“Not only did the win significantly improve the Steelers’ playoff odds, which sat at just 32% entering the game, but it also gave Tomlin a 22-17 head-to-head record, including the playoffs, against Ravens coach John Harbaugh, the most wins by one coach over another coach in the Super Bowl era, according to ESPN Research. ‘I’m grateful for how calm he stayed throughout the process, ups and downs,’ edge rusher Alex Highsmith said of Tomlin’s demeanor this week. ‘He continues to come in and be the same coach that he is day in and day out…. I love playing for him. I love playing for this team. We’re just going to keep fighting and keep stacking wins.'”
Now, this is the same Brooke Pryor that, until recently, may have been more comfortable with Coach Tomlin returning to the collegiate coaching ranks. Tyler Maher wrote a postgame article on msn.com: “What’s Steelers’ secret to beating Ravens despite glaring disparity”…
“By most metrics, the Pittsburgh Steelers should not have beaten the Baltimore Ravens 27-22 on Sunday. Not only are the Ravens the better team, but they also finished with more first downs, fewer penalties, more total yards and more time of possession. And yet, it was the Steelers who scored more points and won the game.”
He continued, saying: ”It wasn’t the first time the Steelers have won a game like that, either. They’ve won only three games since World War II where they were outrushed by at least 170 yards, but all three have come against the Ravens in the last six seasons.”
I have said in the past, a team may have a great running attack, but if they don’t score enough points, their running game only aids the opposition as far as controlling the clock is concerned. If the Baltimore Ravens had conserved just two or three additional minutes by getting one or two extra first downs through the air, they could’ve easily scored a touchdown. In the end, the running game ate up the clock and ate up their chance for victory.
Mike Tomlin has not always been as benevolent as he is today when it comes to player loyalty. He wasn’t so fiercely loyal when it came to ex-Steelers’ Super Bowl-winning running back Willie Parker and ex-Steelers’ wide receiver Antonio Brown. As a matter of fact, some folks even suggested that former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger sat behind the wheel of the “bus of extinction” preparing to use Antonio Brown as a speed bump as Brown was preparing to exit the North Shore. The silence of Tomlin regarding the false narrative leaping from the mouth of Roethlisberger regarding Antonio Brown provided a full tank of gas for the “B.O.E” to get rolling. I am also a bit disturbed about the current narrative regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers’ wide receivers undertaking a pilgrimage to study under the Steelers’ current “griot in residence,” Aaron Rodgers. When Rodgers was overthrowing wide open receivers, who did Rodgers seek for guidance to straighten out that problem? Did he pull out the old Ouija board, burn a few sticks of incense and sit down with John Madden or George Blanda? And finally, did he pull out Ouija board number two to resurrect the rigor mortis-like playbook of the Steelers’ Offensive Coordinator Arthur Smith?
It wasn’t the coaching or the performance of Steelers’ Alex Highsmith, who sacked Ravens QB Lamar Jackson to end the game; no, that could not have been a factor, right? I wonder if Highsmith was part of the Steelers who studied with Aaron Rodgers to receive extra credit. It took Aaron Rodgers’ direction to quiet the firestorm, or at the very least pour water instead of gasoline on the out-of-control tempest to fire Mike Tomlin, right? Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five once said: “It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder, how I keep from going under.” Are there days that Mike Tomlin shares that same sentiment? I can’t speculate for Coach T, but as far as I am concerned, I am certainly trying to come up for a breath or two.