Mike Tomlin is One of the Most Bizarre Coaches of All Time
Mike Tomlin has been head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2007. In that time, he has ranged from winning a Super Bowl to tripping players because he was confused about what side of the field they were running along.
This season, Tomlin has been getting more attention than ever after multiple bizarre press statements and buying his players shoes.
On the "menace to society" side of things, before the Steelers' first game this weekend against their rival Bengals, Tomlin bought all of his players black Air Force Ones in reference to the "black Air Force energy" trend.
Complex probably described this phenomenon the best:
They have no regard for human life, not even their own. This strategy isn’t a joke or a Twitter meme, this strategy is for your own good. You can tell a lot about a person by the shoes they wear, so let this be a lesson to those of you that aren’t from “the hood” or “the ghetto” as a lot of you like to call it. Keep your eyes peeled for all-black Forces when in these streets. The people that wear those are either into robbery or have multiple violent priors.
In reality, the trend has grown to include people that "have that dawg in them", just bad-ass people in general. Tomlin clearly wants opponents to think twice when facing the Steelers and their black AF1's.
After a close game in which the Steelers defense forced 5 turnovers by Joe Burrow (and lost me my fantasy matchup this week, thanks), Tomlin was with his players dancing to a song from a former star, Antonio Brown.
There's no audio in that tweet, but yes Tomlin is doing AB's dance to AB's song.
These kinds of things show the relationship Tomlin has with his team. It's great to see he connects with his players. It's clear that he can really relate to the young guns on his squad. However...
Tomlin also has made waves with his odd sayings and metaphors, which are now being called Tomlinisms around the internet.
Tomlinisms ever have their own subreddit now with gems like "When you have red paint, paint the barn red." and "Don't blink. If you're a blinker, cut your eyelids off."
Seriously, if you have some time and want a few laughs, check that subreddit out.
When a clerical error mistakenly listed reserve quarterback Mason Rudolph above rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett on the depth chart, Tomlin gave one his best Tomlinisms to date, saying: "So the cut and paste component was the cut and paste component."
Just an all-time "what the #%&@ does that mean" statement right there.
In his post-game press conference after the win against the Bengals, Tomlin was asked about the play of rookie running back Jaylen Warren and his response was... interesting.
If I'm Jaylen Warren, I don't really know how to take that.
If all these Tomlinisms confuse you as much as they confuse me and most of the rest of the internet, fear not. Coach Tomlin himself is explaining them on his Instagram.
Coach Tomlin has to be the most entertaining coach in the NFL right now, and it's not close. But I'm sure that doesn't matter to him that much. He just wants to win.