Coaching decisions are second-guessed on a regular basis. But in these days of multiple social media and talk radio platforms, armchair coaching has been taken to a new level.
Forget Monday morning quarterbacking. Now, we have Sunday afternoon armchair-coordinating.
Two of Mike Tomlin's big decisions from Sunday's 20-16 win over the Jaguars drew an immediate response on social media.
"I understand that minutiae. I understand what we do is evaluated in today's ball. There's too many talk shows to be able to analyze it that way, but I do not care," Tomlin said. "I'm trying to win. A year ago, we were in a shootout (against the Jaguars). I onside kicked them. This year, we weren't in a shootout. I kicked it deep. I do what I do."
What Tomlin did in that 45-42 loss to the Jaguars in the playoffs last season was scrutinized throughout the offseason.
This time around, it has been done after a win.
First, with the Steelers trailing 9-0 early in the second half, Tomlin elected to accept a holding penalty after Leonard Fournette had been stopped for a 1-yard gain on third-and-2 at the Jacksonville 35.
Instead of forcing the Jaguars to punt -- which they likely would have in their own territory -- Tomlin elected to try to make them convert a third-and-12 from the 24.
T.J. Watt sacked Blake Bortles on that play, forcing a fumble recovered by an offensive lineman at the Jaguars' 13.
The Jaguars punted and the Steelers took possession of the ball at their 45, subsequently driving to the Jacksonville 11 before Ben Roethlisberger threw his third interception of the game.
"I wanted to see why they avoided third-and-long so hard in that football game," Tomlin said. "I'm just joking. I knew why they avoided third-and-long. That's why I took the penalty. You see what happened when they snapped that ball. That team was working extremely hard to stay on schedule. We needed splash plays to provide our offense a short field in an effort to win the game. We weren't going to get splash plays on third-and-2. So you move them back and you get after them, and maybe you sack-fumble them. Maybe you pick it. That's how the game goes. I'm not apologizing for that."
Later, after the Steelers had scored to make it 16-13 with 2:28 remaining, Tomlin chose to allow the Jaguars to run the ball on first down and then let the clock go down to the two-minute warning without using one of his timeouts.
He did use them after Jacksonville's next two runs, forcing the Jaguars to punt with 1:50 remaining. Conceivably, Tomlin could have used all three of his timeouts before the two-minute warning, but the Steelers would have had none remaining.
Instead, he chose to give Roethlisberger a timeout to work with, which essentially cost the Steelers about five to 10 seconds in game time.
Roethlisberger scored the game-winning touchdown on a run with five seconds remaining.
"I knew they were going to run the ball," Tomlin said of the Jaguars, who threw for just 64 yards. "I wanted to save a timeout, because that was how the game unfolded for them. Some people are going to throw the ball on third down and try to win the game right there. I knew they were going to run the ball on third down. I knew if we stopped them, the clock would be running. I would need a timeout."
Roethlisberger still had that timeout remaining when he scored. The play was reviewed, and if it had been ruled the quarterback had not broken the plane of the goal, the Steelers would have used that final timeout then to set up the next play.
Would it have been a field goal or an attempt to go for the win, inches from the goal line?
"We'll never know, will we?" Tomlin asked. "I might be in that situation again. Just know that we were duly prepared."