'Everything's cyclical': Examining the upshot of a wild NFL hiring cycle that featured the Steelers

PITTSBURGH — The NFL’s annual carousel of coaching hires is rarely predictable, but the latest spin has underscored just how quickly fortunes can reverse across the league. The defensive dominance displayed by the Minnesota Vikings in 2006 catapulted then-31-year-old coordinator Mike Tomlin into the spotlight, culminating in his appointment as the Steelers’ head coach. Yet Tomlin’s ascension also illustrates a broader truth voiced by many inside the game: success breeds opportunity, and opportunity is never confined to one sideline.

Had the Vikings’ NFC North rival—the identity of that team is not specified—failed to advance even deeper into the postseason that year, Tomlin’s meteoric rise might have unfolded differently. Instead, the confluence of standout defensive performances and playoff victories elsewhere created a perfect storm that ultimately landed the young assistant in Pittsburgh, where he has remained ever since.

Front-office executives often describe the hiring cycle as a pendulum: one season’s offensive explosion prompts a scramble for innovative play-callers; the next, a defensive renaissance swings the focus toward coaches who can slow those attacks. The Steelers’ decision to tab Tomlin in 2007, fresh off Minnesota’s defensive surge, is now viewed as a textbook example of that pendulum in motion. While the current cycle’s full list of moves is not detailed in the available information, the principle remains unchanged—teams chase the formula that most recently won, confident that today’s trend will eventually yield to another.

As this offseason’s searches continue, the echoes of 2006 serve as a reminder that every coaching hire is both a reaction to, and a bet on, the league’s perpetual ebb and flow.