Former NFL head coach Mike Tomlin may have been a little too into his Minecraft world.
The coach that spent 19 seasons at the helm for the Pittsburgh Steelers was always known for being stoic, and never offering up too much during time with the media. Now, as he moves into his post-coaching career as an analyst, Tomlin has been more open about his personal life.
Both his digital and real life, that is.
It was earlier this month when Tomlin sat down with TODAY that he shocked the world by revealing that he has spent over a decade building out a city in Minecraft – a video game where players are able to explore and build in an open world. There’s no doubting that it’s a popular game… it was just shocking to hear that the former coach of the Steelers has spent that much time playing it.
He had a good reason to though, as he explained:
“I’m a big Minecraft-er, because my kids were. So how do I connect with them? How do I meet them where they are and spend time with them?”
Pretty cool of Tomlin to connect with his kids through something they enjoy. The only thing is… Tomlin ultimately loved the game even more than them.
After that interview, the world clamored for Mike Tomlin to share the world that he has spent 12 years on. His sons were the ones that finally convinced their dad to do a stream and show everything that he’s built, and the glorious reveal came last night. To say the population was shocked by how intricate Tomlin’s builds were would be an understatement.
Here’s a snippet of him talking about his urban build:
Unbelievable.
That’s simply one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen. Most of the internet agrees… except for the Pittsburgh Steelers fans out there. The die-hard football fans couldn’t help but think that, as their teams were perpetually going 9-8 every single year, Tomlin was building out this grandiose world on Minecraft.
Someone out there actually did the math on when Tomlin would have become a “Minecraft-er,” and then compared his pre-Minecraft and post-Minecraft coaching career. The results are a bit shocking:
Before Minecraft (7 seasons)
1 Super Bowl win
2 SB appearances
5-3 playoff record
After Minecraft (12 seasons)
0 SB wins
0 SB appearances
3-9 playoff record
What a world we live in, eh? A fanbase is now slightly upset that their former head coach was spending so much time on Minecraft that it seemingly affected the team’s postseason record.
But come on now… are we really going to pile on Mike Tomlin for finding a way to connect with his kids? Most NFL coaches barely see their families during the season, and it seems like Tomlin figured out a way to still spend meaningful time with his kiddos. Granted… did he take the Minecraft thing a bit further than they probably did?
It sure seems like it… according to this response from Tomlin’s son, Mayce:
Hilarious.
Here’s the full video for what appears to be an episodic reveal of Tomlin’s Minecraft city. It’s been up on YouTube for less than 24 hours and it already has almost 1 million views:
“In this episode, I discuss why I decided to start the Minecraft City, followed by an examination of the first building downtown and other key rooftop properties.”
