Brian Batko

You know, it happens.

He won it.

But come on.

He walked into a situation.

With a Hall of Fame quarterback still in his 20s, a defense stocked with still in their prime talent, a roster still in its prime that had won a Super Bowl a year removed, and a legendary defensive coordinator, Hall of Fame GM, it's one of the greatest new jobs that any coach has ever walked into.

And credit to him for maximizing it, at least in his, what was it, his second year he won the Super Bowl, right?

Now, people say, well, wait, the Steelers were 8-8 before Tomlin arrived.

Let's not complicate this.

They were 8-8 because Ben had a near-fatal motorcycle accident followed by an appendectomy right before the season opened or followed by a concussion and had by far the worst season of his NFL career, the only season in which he had more interceptions than touchdowns.

So don't let that fool you on what kind of situation Tomlin was walking into.

The worst situation by far, by just as far, was Chuck Knoll.

He inherited a franchise that had never won a playoff game in five decades of existence and had almost no talent to speak of.

That's not a good situation.

And then Cower and McCarthy, I say, are pretty close to what they inherited here.

Cowher, kind of low-key, came into a good place.

Now, the quarterback was Neil O'Donnell, so he didn't have a great quarterback, but he had a decent one.

Chuck Knoll, as the story goes, felt like his team was ready to win again, but he just didn't have the energy to lead it there.

I mean, he left Cowher with the likes of Dermot Dawson, Rod Woodson, Barry Foster, Greg Lloyd, Carnell Lake, etc.,

And then McCarthy walks into a situation with no quarterback at the moment, but he does have maybe again, low key and maybe against popular opinion.

I think they have some talent around here.