In sports betting trends are made to be broken, but at times consistency does in fact speak volumes.
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has been in charge of the Steelers since 2007 and while that alone is impressive let's dig into the numbers even further.
Tomlin has amassed 189 career wins and including the playoffs he wins at about a 63% clip. With Pittsburgh he has a Super Bowl ring and has won the AFC North a remarkable seven times.
What is important for us though is for some reason the public, and sports books seem to overlook his impressive resume year after year. Tomlin has had some incredible seasons, and usually in sports that is eventually followed by some down years, but not in Mike's case. Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season in the NFL as a head coach. Read that sentence again to really understand the true impact of that. That is now 20 straight seasons where the Steelers, pre-dating Tomlin, has had a .500 record or better. With one more win this year they will tie Dallas for the longest streak in NFL history with 21. The Cowboys accomplished that from 1965 to 1985.
Odds makers seemingly don't care about that though. For each of the past five seasons Tomlin's win total has hit the over the posted total. He has also accomplished that goal in 8 of the last 10 seasons overall. In fact in 4 of the last 5 seasons Tomlin would have had to do something he never has to go under the wins total posted in the preseason, and that is end with a losing record.
The odd makers don't just disrespect Tomlin before the season. Pittsburgh came into last week with a 7-2 record, yet were still catching 3 1/2 points against the Ravens. That game was also in Pittsburgh, another disrespectful sign. But, once again Tomlin and the Steelers made money for those that have faith in this team with an outright win. He did so with Russell Wilson under center, who is now 4-0, which was also questioned by many after he benched Justin Fields.
Mike Tomlin is now cashing over 67% of the times he is an underdog. That number skyrockets when they doubt him at home with a remarkable 21-6-3 record in his last 30 games as a home underdog. That's good for a 78% clip of cashing tickets.
As sports bettors we can only hope that the public and odds makers keep doubting Mike. A look ahead at the upcoming schedule for the Steelers shows that Pittsburgh will likely be underdogs when they face the Ravens again, this time in Baltimore, on December 21st. They also will likely be underdogs on the road against the Eagles the week before that. But, if you want to circle a date to capitaize, the terrible towels will be out in full force at home when they will be underdogs to visiting Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs on Christmas Day. That's a Christmas present that Tomlin Claus can deliver to all of us.