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Dunlap: Should Mike Tomlin Be On The Hot Seat?

Why can't Mike Tomlin be on the hot seat?

Why should we just pass all of this off on the Steelers having some injuries --- albeit key ones --- or some factor out of his control?

Bottom lines are bottom lines.

Here's a bottom line for you: Fans are getting restless, the Steelers haven't been winning at the rate that is expected and it looks as if some of the prime seasons of what could be the greatest quarterback in franchise history are turning out to be ones in which they win just half of their games.

All the while, Mike Tomlin keeps clinging to his notion that "the standard is the standard," so I ask you this: Why should the Steelers fan base be in the excuse making business if the head coach isn't? That is to say if all Tomlin is worried about is results, shouldn't we judge him by those very same things? I think so.

If you start counting the records the moment on Jan. 9, 2012, when the Broncos were soaring a mile-high through the Steelers' secondary in a Wild Card game, here are the depths the Steelers have sunk …

-They have a 31-27 record (counting that Denver game) since.

-They have appeared in just one playoff game since, losing to Baltimore to end last season.

-They have two .500 seasons in the past three and currently rest at 4-4, a .500 mark.

None of that is conjecture, opinion or estimation. Nope, just outright fact. Those yields aren't something this franchise should boast about.

On top of all of this, Tomlin was asked about --- and defended --- what looked to be a sure boneheaded 15-yard penalty by Mike Mitchell in Sunday's loss to the Bengals.

I have never been one to criticize Tomlin for his chest-thumping, boisterous and energetic sideline ways. And, most likely never will be one of those guys. I'm not stuck in the Vince Lombardi Era, I understand Ham and Lambert don't play for the Steelers anymore, this city is one that doesn't have smoke wafting through the "afternoon" sky and people who yak about the whole act-like-you've-been-there-before way of thinking extract a laugh from me.

That said, it's one thing for Tomlin to be enthusiastic and animated on the sideline. I like that.

It's something entirely different for someone under his watch --- Mitchell in this case --- to draw a major infraction for silly actions and then the head coach condone such actions a few days later. That's precisely what Tomlin did.

That, to me, is unfathomable.

Tomlin didn't need to come out and crush Mitchell in his Tuesday press briefing, but taking a stance that Mitchell did nothing wrong --- as Tomlin did --- comes off really, really bad.

I also don't need to remind anyone about the clock (mis)management woes at the end of the Cincinnati game that Tomlin swears were nothing more than a great plan that just didn't come to fruition because plays weren't made. You know that full story by now, right?

These words; this column, isn't one in an effort to run Mike Tomlin out of town. Far from it. I actually think, in his parlance, the guy coaches "above the line" most of the time.

But hard facts are hard facts. This team looks to be bound for a third .500 season (maybe) in the last four years.

The franchise hasn't won a playoff game since the AFC title game in 2010 and, since then, missed the playoffs twice and were bounced in their first game the two times they did make it.

Again, I'm not saying Tomlin --- who has a contract through 2018 --- needs to go at the end of this season, but the Steelers wouldn't be doing their due diligence if they didn't at least tinker with the idea.

Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weekdays from 5:40 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.

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