Harbaugh vs Tomlin
By: Jake Rajala
The AFC North divisions have a pair of future Hall of Fame head coaches. We have the ring leader in Baltimore by the name of John Harbaugh in one corner. In the other corner, we have a coach who has stayed at the head coach spot longer than any other HC on a team in Mike Tomlin. With that said, I’m going to untwine which HC has the edge!
Mike Tomlin refuses to lay down at age 53! His most impressive moment came where he won the Super Bowl against the Arizona Cardinals in 2009!
It would be blasphemous to ignore: Tomlin has never had a losing season! He has a career record of 183-107. He has a winning percentage of .623.
It’s widely seen that Sean Payton is a Hall of Fame coach. Well, let it be known that Payton has five losing seasons! Furthermore, Mike McCarthy has five losing seasons!
Tomlin also has helped press the right buttons on a defense that ranked Top-3 in PPG eight times! There were many HOF players on his defense, such as Troy Polamlu and James Harrison.
The Steelers also won the division seven times since Tomlin started!
On offense, Tomlin had an elite, underrated QB in Big Ben. His offense ranked Top-10 in scoring 10 times! Plus, Big Ben was clutch and he would arrive in big moments. Tomlin was forgiving for Ben’s off-season mistakes, which can be hard to do.
John Harbaugh, also known as Jim’s brother, is still not quite close to retiring. John also has a Super Bowl ring, similar to Jim and Mike. He has a career record of 172 and 104. His career winning percentage is .630!
Jon has won the division six times!
The Ravens have also been Top-3 in scoring defense nine times! Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs, and Ed Reed were dominant figures on their defense.
I believe we should take a deeper dive and untwine their head to head history. Tomlin is ahead 20-15 against the Ravens! Not only does Tomlin have more success against the Ravens overall, but he’s still finding success against Lamar Jackson recently! The Steelers won 18-16 last season!
Not only has Tomlin found a way to defeat the Ravens in their private showdowns, but I love how Tomlin has found success after Big Ben retired. They have gone 10-7 in each of their past two seasons! Jon has obviously been impressive, It’s safe to say that Harbaugh is working with someone a lot better with Lamar Jackson.
I should be clear: I believe that Lamar Jackson is ahead of Mason Rudolph. However, I firmly believe that Mike Tomlin has the edge over Harbaugh. They have had three straight seasons with a winning record after losing Big Ben to retirement. I believe that they could win it all, with their structure and stars on defense, such as T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick! Hence, John Harbaugh has the edge.
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