Tomlin Must Answer Two Questions to Stay
PITTSBURGH — NFL insider Peter King has spent many years watching Mike Tomlin grow into one of the best head coaches in football. But as the Pittsburgh Steelers hit a crossroads, he says there are two questions the head coach must answer to stay with the team this offseason.
During an appearance on 93.7 The Fan, King said there are two questions Tomlin must answer in order for Steelers President Art Rooney II to keep him around moving forward.
“I think the one thing Art Rooney really needs to do when it comes to the postseason decision is you gotta decide, are we gonna try to bring in somebody from the outside to try and revamp, maybe redesign our offense? So, that’s one thing,” King said. “And then, the second thing is, I don’t think this is a fatal flaw, but I think it bothers me. It bothers me that Diontae Johnson and George Pickens do not play all out on every snap. … Somehow, some way, that must get fixed.”
The Steelers are on a string of offensive coordinators who simply stay until the team asks them to leave. This next hire needs to be different. As King said, the pressure is on to find a successful OC, which will likely help fix the wide receiver issue King is also talking about.
Pickens and Johnson have shown their frustrations this season, but it has to be hard for either to stay positive in an offense that isn’t built to succeed with them in it.
As two of the best young wideouts in the NFL, being ignored in a gameplan, and having limited action during games to make any contribution likely isn’t the situation either expected to find themselves in this season.
The pressure is certainly on for Tomlin to find some answers to looming problems within the Steelers offense. And if he can’t, more and more insiders are starting to raise the question of whether he sticks around or not.
