Pittsburgh Steelers Possible Firing of Coach Mike Tomlin Triggered by Patriots & Bill Belichick?

Pittsburgh Steelers Possible Firing of Coach Mike Tomlin Triggered by Patriots & Bill Belichick?

Did the New England Patriots just get Mike Tomlin - an institution with the Pittsburgh Steelers for almost as long as Bill Belichick has been one in Foxboro - fired?

The Steelers remain in playoff contention, if only barely, following their embarrassing home loss on Thursday to the lowly Patriots. That failure makes it back-to-back stinkers for Tomlin and company, who the week before lost to the have-not Arizona Cardinals.

That's consecutive losses to 2-10 teams. ... both at home. And now it's not just fans who have tired of Tomlin's reign in Pittsburgh, even though he's never had a losing season there.

Smart media people are now reserving seats on the anti-Tomlin bandwagon.

*"It’s time,'' writes the Beaver County Times. "These next four games should be the last ones he coaches for the Steelers. ... He hasn’t been a very good coach here for at least a few years now.''

*Fifty-percent chance,'' said the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ray Fittapoldo in a radio spot. "(They're) is a crossroads here.”

*"Coach Mike Tomlin should be fired the minute this wasted Steelers season ends,'' writes the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "Enough with adhering religiously to what daddy and granddaddy did. When the coach deserves to be fired, fire him. Never changing coaches is supposed to give the Steelers stability. Do these Steelers look stable to you?''

Indeed, the proud Steelers franchise might be just about to endure a seventh straight season without a playoff win. And while there is no joy in Mudville ... er, Foxboro ... over the Patriots being good enough, if only for a moment, to make Tomlin inept?

Yes, losing to the Cardinals and these Patriots in a four-day span at home looks awful on Tomlin's resume.

Belichick is an institution. But that doesn't mean he keeps this job forever. And if Belichick isn't forever, why should Tomlin be.

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After the loss to New England, Tomlin was asked why he still harbors confidence that his team will bounce back.

Because, he replied, “This is what we do. This is who we are.”

But actually "who the Steelers are'' is a team that couldn't beat the Patriots. And right now? That's about as bad as a team's situation gets.