At 36 years of age and two years as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, former Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin has a record of 22-10, two AFC North divisions titles and now a Super Bowl trophy on his resume.
At 52 years of age and three years as head coach of the Vikings, Brad Childress has a record of 24-24, just won his first NFC North title and has one playoff appearance (a loss) on his resume.
I usually dislike these 20/20 hindsight judgements on whom has turned out to be the better head coach. Tomlin inherited a much better team than Childress did.
But one of my memories of this Super Bowl will be Tomlin clapping away and calmly urging his team to action after the Arizona Cardinals had gone up 23-20 with just over two minutes left in the biggest game in pro sports. So it was no surprise to see the Steelers march down the field with purpose and score the winning touchdown.
Meanwhile, one of memories of the Vikings playoff run this season is Childress – with less than a minute left in the regular season finale and the Vikes needing a field goal to beat the Giants and clinch a playoff berth – wasting valuable seconds, calling a timeout and sending Ryan Longwell out to kick a field goal, then changing his mind and calling for Tarvaris Jackson to drop back to throw a pass with nine seconds left in the game and no timeouts.
Sometimes small moments reveal a lot about how good a person is at their job. I think that happened with Mike Tomlin today and I think that happened with Brad Childress in the final minutes of the Giants game.
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