Al Michaels Explains Why Steelers' Mike Tomlin Would Be 'Can't Miss' NFL TV Analyst

Unfortunately for the announcer, it doesn't seem like the Pittsburgh boss will leave coaching behind any time soon.

Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin stands on the sidelines during a game. / Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

Legendary sports broadcaster Al Michaels recently shared that he thinks Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin would be an incredible NFL analyst for television—that is, if Tomlin ever decides to stop coaching, which definitely isn't something expected anytime soon for the 52-year-old.

Michaels, though, gave quite the pitch for Tomlin to become an NFL analyst in the future when talking on Sports Media with Richard Deitsch this week. He gave some pretty convincing reasons.

“In a meeting with Mike, and this goes all the way back to when he took the job in 2007, he’s very interesting,” Michaels said. “And what he will do—especially in recent years—we’ll go in there’s a dance you can do in these meetings, who’s not gonna play... Mike will come in and he will give you the answers to all of the questions you have without you asking those questions. So, it’s very efficient for us. He’ll know what we want to know. And Mike will take the mic for maybe four or five or six minutes, whatever it takes to bring us up to speed with all of the things that he knows that we need to know.

"The other thing about Mike, is he’s so facile of tongue. I mean, he’s unbelievably well-read. I’ve always said—and I’ve said this on the air—if I had a debate team, I would make him my captain.”

Michaels listed some of the "Tomlinisms" that have become popularized over the years and how they would draw viewers in. A "Tomlinism" is when the Steelers coach offers a unique and new way of describing something instead of giving the "cliche," as Michaels called it. One example Michaels gave on the podcast was Tomlin calling a "running back by committee" a "distribution of labor."

It would be extremely shocking if Tomlin decided to take his shot at broadcasting in the near future. The Steelers have shown no sign of getting rid of him, especially since he has a streak of 18 consecutive non-losing seasons going on there. However, it's hard to argue that it wouldn't be awesome to have Tomlin in a booth one day.

---

More of the Latest Around the NFL

feed