Look, I'm not Tomlin apologist by any means, but everyone latches on to that ONE stat from his one year as Minnesota's DC, and ignore everything else. They were 31st in total passing yards, but were 19th in net yards per attempt, we were 17th that year. They were 1st in rushing defense, in all categories, giving up less than 1,000 yards on the season and only 2.8 yards per attempt. They were 14th in pts per game, and 8th in total defense.
The year before he got there, they were 20th in pts, 19th in rush, 22 in pass, and 21st in overall. It was also well known that he was able to relate to any member of the staff or team the same way, whether it was the GM, the water boy, the kicker, or staff on the team plane, he treated them the same. It wasn't like they just grabbed him for no reason at all. He was a young, upcoming coach.
18 years later, and his message and style has grown stale. Doesn't mean he was trash from the moment they looked at him.