Dec 2, 2017 4 min read

Mike Tomlin can’t seem to win.

No, not on the field. Tomlin has guided the Steelers to a 9-2 start to this season and an 18-3 record over the past 21 games.

In most places, that would be good enough to have people talking about building a statue of you.

The problem for Tomlin is that the New England Patriots are 19-2 over that same stretch, with one of their victories being a 36-17 win in last season’s AFC Championship game. And Steelers Nation has a serious case of Patriots envy.

The Patriots are good. Of that there is no doubt.

They are dynastic, just as the Steelers of the 1970s were a dynasty.

But should we discount the fact the Steelers have won two Super Bowls and been to a third during the same period that New England has been to seven and won five?

Wait, the Patriots have lost two Super Bowls?

Yep. People tend to forget that.

They also tend to forget that they would have lost their past two trips to the Super Bowl had the coaching staffs of Seattle and Atlanta not had major brain meltdowns that allowed New England to escape.

Should we be surprised when Tomlin addressed what he called “the elephant in the room” in an interview with his former boss, Tony Dungy, during NBC’s “Football Night in America” prior to the Steelers’ 31-28 win last Sunday over the Green Bay Packers?

Dungy asked Tomlin about his team’s focus, specifically regarding the Patriots’ Dec. 17 visit to Heinz Field.

Tomlin replied, “I’m going to embrace the elephant in the room. There’s going to be fireworks. But it’s probably going to be Part 1. You know? You’ll burn more fuel trying to pretend like that doesn’t exist than just to acknowledge the elephant in the room. Man, that’s going to be a big game. But if we’re both doing what we’re supposed to do, the second one is really going to be big and what happens in the first is going to set up the second one. It’s going to determine the location of the second one.”

Some tried to turn that statement by Tomlin into something bad, saying he was being arrogant, overlooking other teams or giving them bulletin-board material.

That game was nearly a month away when Tomlin made his statemen. As quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said this week, it’s the job of the head coach to concern himself with the big picture while the players concern themselves with the next game.

And the task at hand for Tomlin is figuring out a way to turn the tables on New England, a team against which he has a 2-6 record.

Some people point out that one of Tomlin’s wins against New England came in 2008, when Matt Cassell was starting at quarterback for the Patriots instead of Tom Brady.

But those people also like to gloss over the fact the Patriots won in Pittsburgh last season when Roethlisberger was injured and the Steelers had Landry Jones at quarterback.

The more telling statistic: If you throw out those two games, the Patriots are 5-0 against the Steelers with Brady at quarterback and 1-1 in Pittsburgh when Roethlisberger plays.

That’s why Tomlin isn’t afraid to talk about that elephant that is charging toward the Steelers a couple of weeks from now. After all, he also knows that the Patriots are 21-3 with Brady at home in the postseason and 4-5 on the road.

There’s no doubt the game Dec. 17 is a big one.

And, as Tomlin also told Dungy, “We can win it all. We should win it all. I think that’s my mentality. I think that’s their mentality. But I’m less concerned about that and more concerned about what are the things that we’re going to do along the way to make that happen.”

Should Tomlin feel his team isn’t going to win the Super Bowl? Should he feel his team can’t beat the Patriots?

The answer to both questions is a resounding no.

The Steelers are a good football team. Their record over the past 21 games shows that.

Shame on Tomlin if he hasn’t been preparing his team with an eye on that elephant.