Cowher had years and years of horrible talent to work with at QB (Slash!!), if Bill had Ben through the entirety of Ben's career I'd wager Ben would have possibly 4 championships at this point rather than 2. And in terms of championships, 4 is way, way more than 2.
I think a big part of Ben bemoans not having a great coach for most of his career. He was spoiled by Cowher early on, and now it is galling for him to play the Patriots and see them always get taken apart because they are so always so well coached and prepared. He has to be thinking, "Dang, what if I had had that coach for my whole career."
I don't have anything against Tomlin, though I don't like his "wolf pack" mentality as a coach, but this is where coaching comes into play. Would you rather have Yngwie - really, REALLY good at one thing, and pretty much one thing only, or would you rather have Steve Morse or Steve Howe - very good at most everything in that context. I think Tomlin is a Super Bowl coach when everything aligns for him. Players are healthy, no controversy, etc. I think Cowher is a Super Bowl coach even when NOTHING is aligning for him.
Agreed. I mean, Cowher got to a Super Bowl with
Neil O'Donnell as his QB and was
thisclose to beating the Cowboys dynasty in that Super Bowl (if not for said QB throwing a horrible pick at the end).
As far as Kordell Stewart goes, yes he was a disappointment, but he played mvp caliber football the year that Tom Brady emerged and beat them in the afc championship.
Yep, and he was really good in '97 until they lost to the Broncos in the AFCCG.
Shoot, they lost that game in '01 thanks to the Patriots getting a blocked FG for a TD (that was possibly an illegal forward lateral) and a punt return for a TD.