Don Shula-8 seasons
Jeff Fisher-7 seasons
Marvin Lewis-7 seasons
Jim Mora- 7 seasons
Not exactly “unheard of”
But I’m sure most here would agree with your point that 7 years IS indeed too long, he is overdue for some playoff success…you could just leave it at that, nuff said…
If you look at the “unheard of” list there are some pretty solid coaches there, fact is a coach that isn’t pretty good won’t get the chance to go that long without a playoff victory because he won’t have built enough trust equity with his organization to last through the futility.
Im no HCMT fanboy, and seven years is absolutely too long, but his overall body of work is still acceptable..
There is an equation to determine a coach's playoff aptitude..
in tomlin's case, I believe there have been 212 playoff teams in his career... at 32 teams each season, there were 544 teams competing for those spots.. so the average amount a coach should lead his team into the playoffs is 39% of the time.. Tomlin has 17 years, so he should have about 7 (6.6) playoff appearances... he is at 11.
You should win at least 1 playoff game about 20% (19.5%) of the time (the previous number /2) so Tomlins should have 3 to 4 years with a win ( 3.3 ) he has 4 such years
8 teams make the divisional rounds each season, so tomlin should have a little over 4 (4.25) appearances there. He has 5..
He should have about 2 afccgs (2.125) he has 3
He should have a superbowl appearance, he has two
A team should win a superbowl once every 32 years.. Tomlin has one..
He is 12th in playoff appearances and 25th in wins
These are above average numbers overall...
The reality that the TOmlin Hate club may have to face is that since the rooneys kept him for so long through an era his philosophies didnt work, it may finally have come full circle and his style can win in the playoffs again...
We will see