The Pittsburgh Steelers secured a huge 44-38 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, improving their record to 9-3 this season.
It was an important win because it not only helped them bounce back from a tough Thursday night loss in Cleveland but also allowed them to maintain their hold on top of the AFC North Division this week. It also delivered a potential knockout punch to the Bengals’ playoff chances in the AFC.
It was also an important win for head coach Mike Tomlin. With the ninth win, it guarantees the Steelers at least a winning record this season. That means that Tomlin now has his 18th consecutive season without ever having a losing record as a head coach.
He has had three 8-8 seasons (2012, 2013 and 2019) along the way, but in his other 15 seasons has finished with a winning record.
During that time, the Steelers have played just one game where they did not have at least a mathematical chance of making the playoffs (Week 17 of the 2012) season. In every other game, they were either clinched into a playoff spot, or had a chance to make it.
There are a couple of different ways to look at this.
On one hand, while the Steelers have been consistently competitive, they have not had much success come playoff time over the past decade. Since their most recent Super Bowl appearance in 2010, they have won just three total playoff games and have not won a playoff game since the 2016 season. That is a long time, and it is not the standard the Steelers like to hold for themselves.
That needs to get better.
On the other hand, being a consistently competitive football team every year over 18 consecutive seasons is still a truly impressive accomplishment. The NFL is not designed for teams to be that consistently good. With the salary cap, free agency and just the very nature of how games are played and how much of a role luck can play, the league is set up for parity where every year, everybody has a chance. When anybody can be good in any given year, it also holds true that anybody can be bad in any random year. Tomlin and the Steelers have just been consistently good and, over the past few years, have been doing it without the luxury of a franchise quarterback.
In 2019, they lost Ben Roethlisberger two weeks into the season and still went 8-8 (including an 8-6 record without Roethlisberger) with Devlin Hodges and Mason Rudolph playing.
In 2020 and 2021, Roethlisberger was a fraction of what he used to be at his prime and was no longer one of the league’s best quarterbacks.
In 2022 and 2023, they went 19-15 (with a playoff appearance) despite the trio of Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky and Rudolph having some of the worst quarterback production in the league.
In 2024, it is Russell Wilson and Justin Fields leading them to wins.
They need to do more in the playoffs. They at least keep giving themselves a chance to get there.
