Steelers HC Mike Tomlin cares about playoff pursuit, not personal record

Per ESPN's Brooke Pryor and Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin broke an NFL record previously held by Marty Schottenheimer when he avoided a losing season for the 15th straight campaign to begin a career as a head coach via Monday's prime-time victory over the Cleveland Browns. That win propelled the Steelers to 8-7-1 heading into the Week 18 matchup at the rival Baltimore Ravens. 

Pittsburgh doesn't control its playoff destiny but mathematically has an outside shot to earn a postseason berth. Tomlin told reporters Tuesday the personal feat was not yet all that meaningful because of what the Steelers could still achieve depending on all that occurs this coming Sunday. 

"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," Tomlin explained. "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."

According to Michael David Smith of PFT, Pittsburgh must defeat Baltimore, have the Indianapolis Colts lose at the Jacksonville Jaguars, and then have the Sunday night contest between the Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders end in anything other than a tie to make the playoffs.