It’s Open Season on Mike Tomlin — But Should It Be?

MIKE TOMLIN | PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

It’s open season on Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin all of a sudden, and everyone, it seems, is taking their shots.

Even Ben Roethlisberger.

“You don’t fire a guy like Coach Tomlin,” Roethlisberger opined this week on his “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger” podcast. “What you do is come to an understanding and an agreement. It’s like, ‘Hey, listen, I think it’s probably best for both of us … for all parties involved, let’s start over.’

“Coach Tomlin’s been here a long time. You would give him a statue, do whatever you gotta do because he deserves it, he’s earned it. But it’s like, ‘OK, it’s time to find that next guy.’ I think he might say it’s time for a fresh start.”

That was a lot more passive — and a lot less aggressive — an approach than we ever saw from Roethlisberger in the pocket.

And it was clearly a much more subtle, and much more nuanced, message than the one sent by the fans at Acrisure Stadium who were booing “Renegade” and chanting “Fire Tomlin” last Sunday as the Steelers were in the process of being pummeled by the Buffalo Bills.

You’ll have that when your record is 6-6 and you have gone eight consecutive seasons without a playoff victory.

A significant and vocal percentage of the natives, unquestionably, are restless. To the degree that “Tomlin PTSD” is an actual thing, or so it seems. And those afflicted by it across Steeler Nation are convinced this season is destined to end as the previous eight have, without a playoff victory.

But what if it isn’t?

The Steelers are playing the Ravens on Sunday and — this just in — first place in the AFC North Division is at stake.

The Ravens, like the Steelers, are 6-6 and have been showing their warts at least as often as they’ve been inspiring confidence through their “Footbahlin” in 12 games. So the landscape regarding what the Steelers are facing, and the perception of what it is the Steelers are capable of, can change dramatically.

Even if it doesn’t, the Steelers get another shot at the Ravens in the regular-season finale being held at Acrisure. And there still remains a great deal of football to be played.

As for the football the Steelers have put on display previously, it includes beating New England at New England — and the Patriots are currently the No. 1 postseason seed in the AFC.

So making the playoffs again only to get blown out in the first round again isn’t necessarily a fait accompli. That remains on the table, as does the first losing season in Tomlin’s 19 years with the Steelers.

But so does a bounce back in Baltimore, similar to the one the Steelers were able to fashion against Indianapolis in the wake of collapsing in the second half against Green Bay at home.

What they’re after remains in front of them and available for the taking. So why not let the games play out before lashing out or freaking out?

The Steelers-Ravens rivalry is traditionally embraced as something special, and justifiably so. Usually, the games are anticipated like no other, at least until the next one.

But this time, consternation has replaced anticipation. And the debate that’s raging, from chanting fans to talking heads on ESPN to Big Ben, isn’t about whether the Steelers can beat the Ravens.

This time, it’s about whether the Steelers’ head coach has coached past his expiration date.

“Maybe it’s clean-house time, maybe it is,” Roethlisberger maintained. “Maybe it’s time.”

It may be eventually, but not yet.