Mike Tomlin's 12-year-long Minecraft hobby is being questioned: “You don't see Andy Reid doing that”

Mike Tomlin 's 12-year Minecraft project has produced an unsurprising question about the Pittsburgh Steelers coach once the scale was revealed: Was he spending too much time building a virtual city whilst his team struggled to in the NFL Playoffs ? The answer is not that simple, but Tomlin 's hobby has drawn criticism after he revealed the sprawling world he spent more than a decade creating whilst the Steelers slumped whenever it mattered.

​What began as a way to connect with his children eventually became an elaborate city-building project filled with hotels, apartments, sports venues, an aquarium and carefully designed public spaces as Tomlin described the project as therapeutic. The 54-year-old explained that it gave him an outlet away from the pressure of coaching one of the NFL 's most scrutinized franchises, yet some fans have questioned whether the time spent constructing his digital metropolis could have been better studying film. Tomlin 's Minecraft city was developed between roughly 2014 and 2025, a period in which the Steelers struggled to make a deep playoff run despite regularly fielding talented rosters. And the criticism reached the former Pittsburgh star Le'Veon Bell , who joked on X.com, formerly known as Twitter, “We were tryna win super bowls and coach T was on minecraft building cities.” That comment captured the tongue-in-cheek reaction from some fans, with one saying, "I was thinking the EXACT SAME THING... I just don't think Mike Macdonald or Andy Reid are up playing Minecraft at all hours...” The fan added: “I think Ben Johnson, Klint Kubiak, Liam Coen these guys are sleeping at the facility, studying film at 4 in the morning... I was truly kinda shocked."

Tomlin's Minecraft city is far more than a hobby

The reveal also showed why the project has attracted so much attention as Tomlin 's virtual city was built around a large body of water, with the coach explaining that he wanted the area to serve as the starting point for the entire development. His attention to detail quickly became apparent as one of the first buildings was a boutique hotel featuring an executive spa, therapy rooms and a multipurpose conference space. Tomlin even explained his preference for using glass ceilings to maximize natural light whilst the city includes an aquarium-themed apartment high-rise, a CVS and multiple sports facilities. He even built an MLS stadium and a baseball field designed to fit naturally into the surrounding cityscape, while also paying attention to which buildings offered the best views as even seemingly mundane details received attention. Tomlin discussed his focus on bedrooms and his desire to provide an appropriate number of public restrooms throughout office and multipurpose spaces, an obsession that would impress even video game designers. The 54-year-old coach has spent years creating something entirely unrelated to football and now faces criticism for that fact, but it cannot be forgot that he did win a Super Bowl with Pittsburgh in 2009 and they remained competitive throughout his tenure.