In the heat of the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator search, the Lions keep finding more vacancies opening up across the league.
On Tuesday alone, the Los Angeles Chargers fired OC Greg Roman and the Philadelphia Eagles fired (or possibly demoted) OC Kevin Patullo. However, in a significantly more seismic move, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin stepped down after 19 seasons with the team.
Tomlin's time with the Steelers ended after a 30-6 blowout loss to the Houston Texans in what could be quarterback Aaron Rodgers' final game in the NFL. Even though Tomlin has not led the Steelers to a losing season at any point in his 19 seasons with the team, the loss against the Texans continues a stretch of seven straight playoff losses.
Those seven consecutive playoff losses tie Marvin Lewis for the longest playoff losing streak in NFL history.
Tomlin joined the Steelers in 2007, two seasons after the team won Super Bowl XL in Detroit. Tomlin had just spent one season as the Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator after previously serving as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defensive backs coach from 2001 to 2005, where he was a part of the Buccaneers' Super Bowl XXXVII-winning team.
Tomlin would win his own Super Bowl as head coach during the 2009 season before returning two seasons later in a loss against the Rodgers-led Green Bay Packers.
This season, Tomlin and his Steelers pulled off an, at the time, upset victory over the Lions in a close 29-24 win that saw the Steelers stop the Lions from a last-second score in the red zone.
The Steelers opening could cost the Lions a top OC candidate
The Steelers' head coaching position is one of the most secure jobs in the country. Tomlin was just the third Steelers head coach since Bill Austin was fired after the 1968 season. This instantly makes the Steelers' head coach gig the top coaching opportunity available.
This could complicate things for the Lions in their OC search. Former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, who interviewed for the Lions' OC job on Tuesday, is not seen as a good fit for the role, but never say never.
Even if he doesn't get that job, it's likely that former Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh or former Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski might as they're considered the top two head coaching candidates available. Stefanski himself is a popular choice among fans for the Lions' OC job if he fails to secure a head coaching job.
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If Harbaugh or Stefanski takes the Steelers job, that means a team like the New York Giants or Atlanta Falcons may miss out on their top choice, forcing them to go to a backup plan. That backup plan could be McDaniel or someone else the Lions have been eying. There's also the matter of the Steelers likely needing a new OC under their new head coach's staff, which will hamper things further.
The flipside to this is that Tomlin would be an appealing head coaching candidate himself, given his aversion to losing seasons. Tomlin will likely be very selective about his next job, if any, and could take a season off to wait for the right job for him and his family. Although, just saying, the Lions may need a defensive coordinator if he's not up for the stressors of the head coaching role.
As the Lions narrow down their OC candidate, more job openings keep popping up. Competition to fill those openings is only going to get stiffer, further amplifying the need to secure a top candidate like McDaniel before another team does.