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Mike Tomlin became the first head coach in the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers to reach a significant milestone.
With Monday night's 26-14 win against the Cleveland Browns in the quarterback's apparent home finale, the Steelers moved to 8-7-1 with one game left, ensuring that Mike Tomlin will avoid a losing season for the 15th consecutive year as head coach. Marty Schottenheimer's streak from 1984 to 1997 was the previous NFL record.
The benchmark was downplayed by Tomlin Tuesday.
"Not as I sit here today, and I say that with humility, that setting the mark was not meaningful," said the coach. We want to get into a single-elimination tournament this year and try to win the world championship. Our mentality is that every year.
It's just certain hardware that you expect to pick up along the way. If you don't, you will be disappointed. That's just an expectation that we have here in Pittsburgh.
When he was 36 years old, he became the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl when he led the Pittsburgh Steelers to a victory against the Arizona Cardinals. He is one of the league's best coaches for his communication with his players and his endeared himself to his team.
"He challenges his players," said defensive lineman Cameron Heyward earlier in the season. He expects the best. It's for the collective group when he challenges us. He does it from a place where you know he wants the best for you, and to have a coach do that at such a one-on-one level even when he's the head coach is pretty special.
In his 15 seasons, he's compiled a 161-93-2 record, but he's just 8-8 in the playoffs.
"This team is full of tradition and history," Roethlisberger said after the team's win against the Chicago Bears. I'm sure that he's proud of it. There's a lot, but the coaches that have been here have been historic.
After the team started the season 1-3 and went on a three-game winless streak in the middle of the season, Mike Tomlin helped right the ship. The worst the Pittsburgh can do is 8-8-1 with just one game left.
