Mike Tomlin comes in as the fourth best head coach in the NFL in a recent ranking by NFL.com.

Tomlin, who is 103-57 in the regular season and 8-6 in the postseason as Pittsburgh's head coach, is behind only Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll and Mike McCarthy on NFL.com's list.

"Perhaps the AFC version of Pete Carroll ... Like Carroll, Tomlin seems to have a way with his players that other teams can't emulate. Like Carroll, he owns both a Super Bowl ring and a Super Bowl loss," NFL.com wrote of Tomlin. "And like Carroll's Seahawks, Tomlin's Steelers tend to drop some 'gimme' road games people expect them to win. Thus, Tomlin isn't always considered a top-shelf head coach. But that's rubbish. His guys play for him, and at the end of the day, that's what counts."

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Tomlin, who was just 34 years old when the Steelers hired him back in 2007, led Pittsburgh to a division title postseason appearance during his first season, a year after the team had gone 8-8 and failed to qualify for the playoffs in Bill Cowher's final season. Tomlin's Steelers went 12-4 in 2008 and defeated San Diego and Baltimore in the AFC playoffs before defeating the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII.

After taking a step back in 2009, Pittsburgh put together consecutive 12-4 seasons in 2010 and 2011 while appearing in Super Bowl XLV. But after it's stunning loss to Denver in the 2011 playoffs, the Steelers went 8-8 in both 2012 and 2013, as Pittsburgh lacked an elite running game while its defense transitioned away from the players that helped the team win two Super Bowls in the 2000s.

With the addition of Le'Veon Bell, the emergence of Antonio Brown and with an improved defense, Pittsburgh went 11-5 in 2014 and returned to the postseason. They've advanced one step further to the Super Bowl each of the past two seasons, nearly upsetting the eventual champion Broncos in 2015 and losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Patriots in the 2016 AFC title game.

This season, armed with the stronger roster he's had since 2010, Tomlin will look to guide the Steelers back to the Super Bowl while adding to his reputation as one of the best coaches of this era.