Here are the facts: Mike Tomlin is in his 10th season as the Steelers coach and in that time he is 101-57 in the regular season to go along with six playoff appearances, two Super Bowl appearances and one Lombardi Trophy.
Oh, he's also only the 40th coach in NFL history to win 100 games, and he accomplished it faster than the two other Steelers coaches to manage the feat, Chuck Noll (193 career wins) and Bill Cowher (149 wins).
And here's the opinion: Terry Bradshaw is not a big Mike Tomlin fan. That is certainly his right. After all, Bradshaw, who is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was an integral part of the Steelers' first four Super Bowls (IX, X, XIII, XIV) and was twice named Super Bowl MVP. He's also an analyst for FOX Sports, which means he's paid to make observations about the game, some of which might not be wildly popular.
Not only that, but Bradshaw has had a tenuous relationship with Pittsburgh and its fans in the years since he's retired, and perhaps that has something to do with his more recent thoughts. Or maybe it doesn't.
Either way, here's what he said during an appearance on FS1's "Speak for Yourself":
"I don't think he's a great coach at all," Bradshaw said, when asked if Tomlin, the Steelers' coach since 2007, still needs to prove himself. "He's a nice coach. He's really a great cheerleader guy. I don't know what he does, but I don't think he's a great coach at all. His name never even pops in my mind when we think about great coaches in the NFL."
The lazy argument against Tomlin is that he won with Bill Cowher's players. Of course, the Steelers were 8-8 in Cowher's last season, and two seasons later, Tomlin led that same team to a Super Bowl title. And two years after that, they were back in the Super Bowl against the Packers. And nine years later, Tomlin has yet to have a losing season in Pittsburgh.
But for a franchise accustomed to winning, that isn't enough for some fans. Which leads us to another popular argument: the Steelers' inexplicable knack for losing games to bad teams. We've written about this phenomenon as recently as October, after Pittsburgh fell to the 1-4 Dolphins.
But two things: First, the Dolphins aren't who we though they were. They've gone 8-1 since that game and are currently the sixth seed in the AFC playoff race.
Second, for all the questions about Tomlin coaching down to his opponents, his franchise quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, has been just as bad and maybe worse in those games. Of course, Bradshaw has had his issues with Roethlisberger too.
CBSSports.com's John Breech documented this in great detail two years ago.
"Our relationship is not any good," Bradshaw said, describing the situation in 2010. "When I told him to park the motorcycle, he got pissed. Alright? Then he had the accident. And since then, there's, you know ... he doesn't like me, and I'm learning not to like him."
After Roethlisberger was suspended in April 2010, Bradshaw announced publicly that the Steelers should have cut the quarterback.
In 2012, Roethlisberger said that the two still weren't talking, adding: "I've never had an issue [with him]. He said a bunch of things in the past about me; it hurts a little bit when you think about family, but I've never been one to say anything to him or at him."
By 2014, Big Ben was asked if the thought Bradshaw would want him to get four Super Bowl rings."I'm sure he wouldn't want me to get four championships," Roethlisberger told Jim Rome, "but if he's a true Steeler at heart then he would want this organization to win as many championships as possible."
But there is good news: While Bradshaw remains unimpressed with Tomlin, he's apparently come around on Roethlisberger. Here's what he told Steelers.com in September: "I would rate Ben right on top of the list [of the best NFL quarterbacks], ahead of [Tom] Brady for sure and anybody else, [Philip] Rivers, Eli [Manning]. He is big, strong and poised."