Florio: Mike Tomlin ‘doesn’t seem to be as unhappy as he should be’ about Steelers’ season ending

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ season ended on a disastrous note. The team lost five straight games and finished the season with another playoff loss, their fifth straight outing and eighth straight season without a playoff win. During an episode of PFT Live on Wednesday, Mike Florio said he thought Mike Tomlin should have seemed more upset with the way Pittsburgh’s season ended.

“At some point yesterday, Mike Tomlin said something that stuck out to me. He said: “I love this game, even when I’m unhappy.” And I don’t doubt him, but man, he doesn’t seem as unhappy as he should be about how the season ended. I thought it on Saturday, I thought it yesterday. The fans are unhappy. Fans are mourning another lost chance at Super Bowl trophy number six (sic). And you want to feel like people connected to the team feel the same way, and maybe internally they do, but that doesn’t show that he was upset, that he was dismayed, that he is disturbed. He just wants to go back to work because he loves it all.

His co-host, Chris Simms, whose time as Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback overlapped with Tomlin’s as Tampa Bay’s defensive backs coach, defended him and said he didn’t wasn’t the type of person to display outward negativity.

“What do people want, a little more sulking, anything?” He’s just not that type of guy. He won’t, he won’t do that. But being with him a good part of my life, I know how important it is to him and how much he takes it on the chin and loves to compete and hates it when he loses.

Mike Tomlin wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows during his year-end press conference, which Florio was referring to. He said he was in no mood to “sell optimism” after the season ended. He wasn’t a pessimist either, but like Simms said, that’s just not who he is. If the leader of the group feels defeated, it’s not going to elevate the locker room or give that group much positivity so the team can work to improve.

Fans might like to see Mike Tomlin feel the weight of the ugly end to the season and his repeated failures in the playoffs, but showing defeat and acting like that in a press conference just isn’t a good idea, no more than Tomlin ever did or it will be fine. He needs to be able to at least show some positivity and say that things can be better.

There’s no doubt that internally, Mike Tomlin is unhappy with how the season ended and knows he needs to improve. His quote about not selling optimism shows that he was still feeling the effects of the playoff loss. Simms understands that as a leader, Tomlin won’t be as upset on the surface, even though winning is the most important thing to him and something he takes seriously.

Given Pittsburgh’s lack of recent playoff success, it’s understandable that people want a little more from Tomlin when it comes to addressing the team’s failures and showing he’s upset about them. However, Tomlin is truly in a no-win situation, because whether he acts pessimistic or expresses a positive attitude, people will always have a problem, and that’s simply because he hasn’t won enough lately.

There’s no doubt that the Steelers’ lack of playoff success needs to change, and Mike Tomlin needs to find a way to keep himself and the fans from being unhappy by finding the missing piece this offseason.