The text arrived last night, suspicious stuff with an “LOL,” an internet link and “I see u” supposedly sent to me by a former colleague.
Being a cautious type, I called the guy to confirm that his phone had not been hacked before clicking on the link. Two and a half hours later, we still were reminiscing.
The link he sent was topical because current Steelers coach Mike Tomlin had used an inquiry about his future as the exit cue to his postgame address in Buffalo Monday after he had presided over yet another playoff loss.
To many of us elders, this Tomlin example recalled a similar question and response from Chuck Noll. The video clip of the Noll instance has been featured prominently through the years, including in the Chuck Noll episode on the NFL Network’s “A Football Life.”
Many years back (1989), ESPN, had a dream season series, supposedly pitting NFL dynastic teams. The producers of that epic example of what if? also had included the Noll video. By the way, the 1978 Steelers were the winners of this exercise in speculation.
Here is the link to video of the Noll job security question and response in case you are curious: https://twitter.com/steelcitystar/status/1747427688388661494?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
I tell you all this — and it was sent to me — because I have a cameo in it, seated to Noll’s right, beside Myron Cope. I was much younger then, my hair more plentiful and my beard not yet gray as I dutifully scribbled notes while a smiling Noll rises and exits, saying “I won’t even answer that question.”
The questioner, off-camera, was Steve Hubbard of the Pittsburgh Press.
The Noll clip was re-posted on Twitter (X) the other day and was said to have come from the 1988 season, which I believe to be correct. The Steelers won their opener that season, then lost six consecutive games on the way to a 5-11 finish. It was Noll’s worst record since going 1-13 in 1969, his first season.
The 1988 effort was an ironically bad season considering that longtime team owner Art Rooney, Sr., had died weeks before it began and the team wore “AJR” patches on their jerseys to honor his memory.
I was covering the Steelers at the time for the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, but a pleasant distraction from that miserable campaign was chronicling an unbeaten Johnstown High School team that year under coach Jerry Davitch.
The 1989 season that followed was a strange one for Noll and the Steelers. It began with losses to Cleveland and Cincinnati, by a combined 92-10 score. It ended with the Steelers slipping into the playoffs late, a la the 2023 Steelers.
But those 1989 Steelers won their first playoff game, 26-23 in overtime at the Houston Oilers. The next week, the Steelers nearly upset the heavily favored Denver Broncos before losing, 24-23.
In a strange twist for a man who had coached four Super Bowl champions, Noll got his first NFL coach-of-the-year honor for this 1989 season.
Noll would resign under fire after the 1991 season, a 7-9 finish.
Tomlin reportedly has told players he will return next season and his media supporters have stressed he has not had a losing record in 17 seasons as Steelers coach.
These people tend to gloss over the fact that Tomlin inherited a team just one year removed from winning the Super Bowl and that the franchise had endured just one losing season in the previous eight. By way of contrast, Noll inherited the coaching of the Steelers after five consecutive losing seasons, the last a 2-11-1 effort in 1968.
Within the next decade, Noll-coached teams had won the Super Bowl four times.
Tomlin’s career playoff record is 8-10, including a current franchise-record five consecutive playoff losses. The last three losses have not been close.
For contemporary context, Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy (a Super Bowl winning coach at Green Bay in the 2010 season against the Steelers and Tomlin) is in jeopardy because despite three straight 12-win seasons, he’s just 1-3 over that stretch in the playoffs.
Philadelphia’s Nick Sirianni is 36-20 in three seasons at Philadelphia, all winning records, and took the Eagles to the Super Bowl following the 2022 seasons, losing there to Kansas City. His postseason record is 2-3, but Sirianni is thought to be in danger of losing his job, too.
For some franchises, regular-season success is not satisfactory.
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