Mike Tomlin should've known the question was coming. So he should've had a better answer.
CBSSports.com reported Monday that Tomlin said the officiating needs work in the wake of the San Diego Chargers' tainted 27-24 overtime victory over the Kansas City Chiefs that eliminated Tomlin's Pittsburgh Steelers from the playoffs.
The NFL admitted on Monday that the officials in the Chargers-Chiefs game erred when it didn't penalized the Chargers for an illegal formation - having too many men on one side of the field - during the missed 41-yard field goal attempt by the Chiefs' Ryan Succop with eight seconds left in regulation.
According to CBSSports.com, Tomlin said the NFL contacted him on Monday to indicate its mistake. Obviously, the admission was of no consolation to Tomlin.
"Those guys do a great job of communicating during difficult times, and I appreciate that," Tomlin said. "But it doesn't change what transpired."
This is the same Tomlin who was not penalized four weeks ago for getting in the way of Baltimore Ravens' kick returner Jacoby Jones, arguably preventing a touchdown and not getting penalized for it during the game (the league did assess a $100,000 fine on Tomlin later). While he said later he was embarrassed by the situation, he didn't criticize the referees for missing that call.
He may have referred to that play when he said, "Obviously, there's a lot of work that needs to be done from an officiating standpoint. I think it's been well-documented in the last several weeks, not only in stadiums we've played in, but others (too)."
If so, Tomlin deserves credit.
The Steelers head coach, however, should have been prepared to say that ultimately, the Steelers were responsible for their eight losses and that's what ultimately cost them a spot in the postseason, rather than a missed penalty call.
Tomlin had every right to be upset at Succop for missing the field-goal attempt and at the Chiefs for resting 20 players in a game that had meaning on the scope of the playoffs.
And he also should be commended for saying, "I always want to be someone that's part of the solution as opposed to someone that's complaining and moaning about the problem. I intend to roll my sleeves up and offer any insight I can in making (the league) the very best it can be moving forward."
Tomlin, however, had a chance diffuse a controversy and did not do it.
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