Mike Tomlin has a hilarious moment after beating the Bengals on Sunday.
The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals in a high-scoring 44-38 victory in Week 13, improving to 9-3 and tying the Dallas Cowboys’ record for most non-losing seasons from 1965 to 1985. In the win, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin also extended his streak of 18 non-losing seasons, behind only Tom Landry and Bill Belichick. Currently, the Steelers are only behind the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills in terms of records, and Mike Tomlin seemed in good spirits as he had a hilarious moment for the Hard Knocks documentary as he led the team back to the locker room.
“Mike Tomlin was mic’d up during the game for Hard Knocks, but he absolutely didn’t want it on for his postgame locker room speech,” per Steelers reporter Brooke Pryor on X, formerly Twitter. “[Steelers offensive tackle] Broderick Jones was *shocked* Mike T was mic’d up.”
Week 13: Steelers def. Bengals
In their Week 13 victory over the Bengals, the Steelers–mainly coach Mike Tomlin–not only gave a moment worthy of Hard Knocks, but he also looked like a genius after his decision to bench Justin Fields in favor of Russell Wilson.
Fields had led the Steelers to a 4-2 record while waiting for Wilson to recover from a calf injury, and Tomlin had caused some debate after deciding to start the veteran, whom the Denver Broncos released after a disastrous stint.
Likewise, this season colored fans’ impressions of Wilson, and his resurgence this year definitely came as a surprise. Upon Wilson’s return, the Steelers won four straight games before losing to the Browns in a snowed-out game.
However, against the Bengals, Wilson threw for 414 yards and three touchdowns, winning a shootout with one of the NFL’s high-powered offenses. The rejuvenated QB is now 5-1 as a Steeler.
“It was fun. We just had a great time,” the Steelers signal-caller said, via the Associated Press. “We knew it was a matchup, we knew it was going to be a heavyweight fight.”
School of Hard Knocks?
Moreover, Tomlin sang his quarterback’s praises after the game.
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“It’s the first time for him going through AFC North football, and I thought he acclimated himself to it well today,” he said. “He put himself squarely in the history of this series with that performance today.”
Meanwhile, the coach also had to handle the pressures of having the Hard Knocks documentary team following his team around, though this season, the famous series is following the entire AFC North, where all four teams finished with a winning record last season.
“I’m…more concerned about whether we are positioning ourselves to perform under those conditions better than those that we compete against,” Tomlin said, via Conor Hutchison of Sports Illustrated.
If the Steelers continue to play like this, they might even see a Super Bowl mini-movie later in the season.
