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The Pittsburgh Steelers' Monday Night Football win was a record-setting one for head coach Mike Tomlin.
With the victory, the Steelers are guaranteed to avoid finishing the 2021 season with a losing record, marking the 15th consecutive year Tomlin has done so since taking over as Pittsburgh's head coach in 2007.
That streak set a new NFL record, surpassing a record previously shared as of last season with late former head coach Marty Schottenheimer, who finished .500 or above every year from 1984-97, spanning stints with the Cleveland Browns (1984-89) and Kansas City Chiefs (1989-97).
Still, Tomlin, 49, who is notorious for understating personal accomplishments ahead of team goals, downplayed his achievement and instead said his focus was on keeping Pittsburgh's playoff hopes alive.
"Not as I sit here today, and I say that humbly," Tomlin said when asked by reporters if the record was meaningful via ESPN. "Our agenda, this year, is to get into [the] single-elimination tournament and then pit our skills against others in that single-elimination tournament in an effort to win the world championship. That's our mentality every year.
"And so with that mentality, it's just certain hardware that you expect to pick up along the way. And if you don't, you'd be seriously disappointed. That's just an expectation that we have here in Pittsburgh."
Tomlin is one of three Steelers head coaches since 1969, succeeding two Pro Football Hall of Famers in Bill Cowher (1992-2007) and Chuck Noll (1969-91), with all three combining for six Super Bowls.
Tomlin led Pittsburgh to a 27-23 victory against the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII -- becoming the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl -- two AFC championships in 2008 and 2010 and has a 154-86-1 (.641) head coaching record.
The 49-year old earned his 145th regular season victory as the Steelers' head coach on Monday night, which trails Cowher and Noll's career totals by four and 48 wins, respectively, for the franchise record.
Tomlin is also the league's third longest-tenured head coach behind only Bill Belichick (New England Patriots, 2000) and Sean Payton (New Orleans Saints, 2006).