Okay. Let’s take a deep breath, Steelers Nation.

Take your hand off the panic button and gather your thoughts.

We’ll get through this.

Obviously there’s no denying how painful the last two losses were, especially the loss to the Dolphins: that was a game we should’ve won, but I guess that’s why the term “any given Sunday: exists.

Since that ugly 34-3 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Steelers have scored 74 points in two games, with their opponents only scoring 27 points. They have a 4-3 record and sit atop the AFC North. There seems to be nothing that could stop them, and that seems to be attributed to the attitude of their head coach, Mike Tomlin.

I understand the title of this article can seem a bit misleading, since many of us may think that Tomlin has already gotten a ton of credit: he hasn’t had a losing season (a season under 500.), he nearly got the Steelers to the playoffs after starting 0-4 in 2013, and he just notched his 100th win (regular season and playoffs combined) in the Week 2 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

When the Steelers have a string of bad games or bad seasons, you’re more than likely to hear some within Steelers Nation say something like this: “See! Tomlin can only win with Cowher’s players!” Usually these rants on social media will follow with #FireHaley or #FireTomlin hashtags. (Which can be annoying and entertaining at the same time.)

Obviously Tomlin inherited an excellent team when he was hired as the Steelers head coach in 2007. The Steelers were a year removed from a Super Bowl win. Ben Roethlisberger, Heath Miller, Aaron Smith, Brett Kiesel, Hines Ward, James Farrior, Willie Parker, and Troy Polamalu are just some of the players Tomlin had the pleasure of expecting at training camp.

All of these great players from the Super Bowl teams are now long gone, multiple times over, with the excpetion of Roethlisberger, James Harrison (who didn’t become a full time starter until Tomlin’s first season as head coach) and long snapper Greg Warren.

With these players gone, new players now occupy their spots. Obviously these new players weren’t scouted and drafted by Tomlin alone, but he still is one of the top two loudest voices during the draft process.

Like any head coach, Tomlin has made mistakes, but he’s also had some great success, particularity through the draft. When people rip Tomlin that he can only win with the “Cowher’s players,” I am quickly reminded of Tomlin’s first-pick as head coach: Lawrence Timmons.

Timmons, the quiet leader of the Steelers defense, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first-round (15th overall) of the 2007 NFL Draft. Any Steelers fan knows that Lawrence Timmons has been the model of consistency since arriving in Pittsburgh. He hasn’t missed a start since 2010, which speaks volumes for a middle linebacker. In 2015 he became the fourth Steelers linebacker to record 10 interceptions and 30.0 sacks since 1982, and made his first Pro Bowl in 2014.

Those who claim Tomlin has won with the previous coach’s players often overlook Tomlin’s first pick, but there are many others who have come and gone, with success, both for the Steelers and other teams, that were drafted during Mike Tomlin’s 10 years as the Steelers head coach: LaMarr Woodley, Matt Spaeth, William Gay, Rashard Mendenhall, Mike Wallace, Keenan Lewis, Maurkice Pouncey, Jason Worilds, Emmanuel Sanders, Antonio Brown, Cameron Heyward, Marcus Gilbert, David DeCastro, Kelvin Beachum, Jarvis Jones, Le’Veon Bell, Markus Wheaton, Vince Williams, Ryan Shazier, Stephon Tuitt, Martavis Bryant, Bud Dupree, Sammie Coates, and Jesse James. (This list doesn’t include the 2016 draft picks, since we have a small sample size to evaluate how they’ve done so far.)

Mike Tomlin has also acquired an alarming number of undrafted and discarded players who have contributed to Pittsburgh’s success, such as Ramon Foster, Alejandro Villanueva, Roosevelt Nix, Cobi Hamilton, Chris Hubbard, Cody Wallace, Eli Rogers, BJ Finney, Xavier Grimble, Ross Cockrell, Robert Golden, Jordan Dangerfield, Jordan Berry, and Chris Boswell.

The more you compare Cowher’s Super Bowl team in 2005 to Tomlin’s 2 trips 2008 and 2010, there are stark contrasts in many key areas, such as the running backs, receivers, linebackers and secondary. Even Tomlin’s 2008 and 2010 teams have variance. Therefore it’s silly to make the call for Tomlin to get fired, which many people were calling for after this year’s losses.

I get it, we all want someone to blame. But here’s why that’s not going to happen:

The Steelers are a franchise of consistency. They’ve only had three head coaches since 1969. Thats right, the Steelers have only had three head coaches in 47 years; and just for the fun of it, I thought I’d include how many head coaches have been hired by each NFL franchise since 2000.

(not including interim)

• Arizona Cardinals: 5
• Atlanta Falcons: 5
• Baltimore Ravens: 2
• Buffalo Bills: 7
• Carolina Panthers: 3
• Chicago Bears: 4
• Cincinnati Bengals: 3
• Cleveland Browns: 9
• Dallas Cowboys: 4
• Denver Broncos: 3
• Detroit Lions: 8
• Green Bay Packers: 2
• Houston Texans: 3
• Indianapolis Colts: 4
• Jacksonville Jaguars: 4
• Kansas City Chiefs: 6
• Los Angeles Rams/St. Louis Rams: 6
• Miami Dolphins: 6
• Minnesota Vikings: 5
• New England Patriots: 1
• New Orleans Saints: 2
• New York Giants: 3
• New York Jets: 5
• Oakland Raiders: 10
• Philadelphia Eagles: 4
• San Diego Chargers: 4
• San Francisco 49ers: 8
• Seattle Seahawks: 3
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 6
• Tennessee Titans: 4
• Washington Redskins: 8  

In his first ten years as Steelers head coach, Bill Cowher won 99 regular season games.

In his first ten years as Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin has won 96 games.

We’re only looking at a three win difference between the past and present: and Tomlin still has 9 more games to play before the book closes on his tenth season.

Both Cowher and Tomlin have had six 10-plus win seasons in their first 10 years as a head coach: once again, Tomlin could have his seventh 10-plus win season in 2016, eclipsing Cowher’s mark.

It’s also important to mention Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season: even when rebuilding, the Steelers put up some 8-8 seasons in which they didn’t make the postseason. However, Cowher also had some rough patches, including the 1998 and 1999 seasons when Pittsburgh went 7-9 and 6-10.

Cowher also followed up his Super Bowl win in 2005 with an 8-8 record in 2006, his final year as the Steelers head coach.

Cowher’s job was never in jeopardy during any of those seasons. The Steelers have not only been a franchise of consistency, but a franchise of dedication and commitment. The Rooney’s have always understood that it takes time to build an excellent team, to be patient during the process, to be dedicated to the head coach they’ve hired; to be committed to him.

This is exactly why the Steelers will not fire Mike Tomlin.

So, let’s do away with the #FireTomlin tweets, and suggestions to fire the Steelers head coach. Eh?