NFL Coach of the Year Voting a Mystery on Par With Loch Ness Monster, Area 51, Bermuda Triangle

By Artistry

It's difficult to argue with the choice of Bill Belichik as the 2010 Associated Press Coach of the Year. Sure, he has Tom Brady. But it looked like a rebuilding year in New England, and Belichik led them to a 14-2 record with no running backs, a bunch of no-names on defense, rookie tight ends, and Wes Welker. He's a genius. He wears a hoodie. We get it. But GTOG defies anyone to explain the fact that Mike Tomlin did not receive one vote - not a single vote even for second or third place - for the work he did in Pittsburgh. Raheem Morris and Todd Haley received 11.5 and 4.5 votes, respectively, because Tampa and Kansas City were terrible and now they're better. Congratulations. That never happens. Even Andy Reid got one vote, presumably for watching Mike Vick be awesome. Great work by him.

Now here's a quick summary of what Tomlin overcame to get to 12-4 and the AFC's #2 seed:

• The Ben Roethlisberger scandal
• Preseason predictions that the Steelers' were only the third best team in the AFC North behind Baltimore and Cincy
• Getting stuck with Batch and Dixon at QB for the first four games of the season
• Losing both starting offensive tackles (Willie Colon and Max Starks)
• Losing his kicker (Jeff Reed) and punter (Daniel Sepulveda)
• Losing his number one wideout (Santonio Holmes)
• Losing his best defensive lineman (Aaron Smith)
• Losing the defensive player of the year (Troy Polamalu) for a couple of games and having him play hurt for a number of others
• James Harrison threatening retirement and the defense getting flagged repeatedly for playing tackle football
• A schedule that included Baltimore twice, the Jets, the Patriots, Tampa Bay, New Orleans, and Atlanta.

It's not clear at this hour why Tomlin is deserving of less recognition than Steve Spagnuolo. For what it's worth, Mike, you have GTOG's vote.