They were wanting Cowher our because he couldn't win the big one, losing AFC Title games, but Tomlin was getting embarrassed in the playoffs at an historic rate. Yes losing AFC title games sucks, but that's not really a negative thing, not like Tomlins playoff failures Cowher's teams were always physical and competitive. Cowher kind of went out on a high note, Tomlin was the opposite. However people have come around on Kordell, I read Steeler fans on twitter saying Kordell would be amazing in this NFL, totally disagree there, but if they came around on Kordell, alot might come around on Tomlin down the road.I mean to be fair, there was a huge push in the press to ouster Cowher in 03, and i specifically remember after 04, when he had gone 15-1 and lost in the AFC cg, a series of columns and talk radio narratives that he had to go cause he couldnt " win the big one" ...
I always thought the Press here liked tomlin more than Cowher and thats why it took longer to turn on him..
For the record, i think no Head coach should stay over 10-12 seasons.. Cowher winning a SB after 15 seasons was an outlier... even great coaches simply don't have late success at one place ... its hard to keep a message and system fresh and sometimes a change of scenery is a healthy reset for them