Mark Madden: Steelers need to set parameters for Mike Tomlin, limit his power with personnel

The Pittsburgh Steelers are 1-4. It’s a bad team, and the organization seems broken.

There’s no foolproof way to fix it, and the timetable is hardly immediate.

But I’ve got a plan. It’s based on the assumption that coach Mike Tomlin has usurped almost all the franchise’s power when it comes to football, a safe bet considering a bean counter got appointed GM.

Omar Khan is a cap expert. You think he’s got final say when it comes to personnel and drafting?

He doesn’t. Tomlin does and has for quite some time.

The Steelers say they make decisions as a team. That’s said to avoid individual accountability and to shroud Tomlin’s status as capo di tutti capi.

My proposal: Tomlin should be head coach. Nothing else.

Tomlin doesn’t also get to be the GM. He doesn’t have final say in the draft. He doesn’t get to be the shadow defensive coordinator. He doesn’t get to hire his own staff.

In short, Tomlin doesn’t get to indulge his megalomania.

Tomlin gets to be head coach. Everybody’s duties get clearly divided and defined. We get to see who does what and how well they do it. More decisions get made accordingly.

None of that is unfair.

The situation at defensive coordinator seems a microcosm of what’s broken.

Teryl Austin is nominally the coordinator. But Tomlin has a reputation for defensive acumen and for poking his finger in that pie. First-year hire Brian Flores should be the coordinator in the first place. Austin got the title because he was already there and it’s “his turn.” It’s a three-way dance.

Are gameplans tainted by debate and compromise? Shouldn’t one vision apply? It’s confusing to explain. Are the players confused?

It sure looks like it. Yes, T.J. Watt is injured, but that defense earns $108 million total and ranks third-last in the NFL, allowing 416.8 yards per game. (I’m not discounting the presence of a lot of bad players.)

More Steelers:

• Steelers will be without 4 starting defensive backs, plus DL Leal vs. Bucs
• Defense needs more pass rush, must figure out Brady
• Activation of rookie WR Austin ‘possible,’ but ‘he’s a little rusty’

The Steelers have a cheap, small coaching staff. Tomlin has no coaching tree.

The Steelers do nothing well on special teams, but cartoon character Danny Smith has guided that platoon for nine years.

Matt Canada is not qualified to be an NFL offensive coordinator. He’s got the resume of a journeyman. But Canada got promoted because he was already there, on payroll, and willing to be Ben Roethlisberger’s bobo. Like Randy Fichtner before him.

The Steelers are run inefficiently. It trickles down from weak ownership.

A football guy should be GM, not a bean counter.

The Steelers’ interview process to replace GM Kevin Colbert was a sham. They talked to a host of candidates, then promoted in-house.

First-year assistant GM Andy Weidl is a Pittsburgh guy, which is too important with the Steelers. (Same concept as signing T.J. Watt’s brother and drafting Cam Heyward’s brother.)

But OK, make Weidl GM — in title and duty — and give him final say with personnel and the draft. (Weidl had great positive input with Philadelphia’s draft when he was the Eagles’ vice president of player personnel prior to being hired in Pittsburgh.)

Tomlin gets input, of course, like any coach. But those whose full-time jobs are to scout, draft and oversee personnel shouldn’t be usurped.

The Steelers have ignored the trenches in the first two rounds of the last eight drafts. No offensive or defensive linemen. It’s not difficult to think that has something to do with the coach wanting shiny new toys to play with. It definitely has something to do with the rotten quality of both lines.

The Steelers have picked four wide receivers in the first two rounds since 2017 and took Diontae Johnson in 2019’s third round. Draft a tackle, for heck’s sake.

This hypothesis assumes a lot of things.

But the Steelers being bad is beyond assumption. The stench is overwhelming.

The Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in five years, and it’s going to be six. They’ve won three playoff games in 11 seasons, and it’s going to be 12.

If that’s not Tomlin’s fault, whose fault is it?

It’s not Roethlisberger’s fault.

Roethlisberger’s guile and game management enabled him to orchestrate six fourth-quarter comebacks and an overtime win last season. The Steelers went 9-7-1, making the playoffs. Now Roethlisberger has retired. The Steelers are 1-4.

Tomlin won’t get fired. That’s not how the Steelers operate. Anyway, there’s no guarantee they would hire somebody better.

But Tomlin is failing badly. To set parameters he must follow seems fair, logical and necessary.