I don’t know where it’s coming from, but this notion that Cowher’s teams had no talent compared to Tomlin is absolutely ludicrous.
From 1992-2003, I'd say Bill's offense was above average when it came to talent but usually below average at QB/WR.
Bill's truly undeniable great offensive players during that time were:
Dermotti Dawson and Jerome Bettis.
Think about his 1997 team. He got them to the AFC Championship Team with:
QB - Kordell Stewart
TB - Jerome Bettis - HOF
FB - Tim Lester
WR - Charles Johnson
WR - Yancey Thigpen - Pro Bowler
TE - Jon Hayes
RT - Justin Strzelcyk
RG - Brendan Stai
C - Dirt Dawson - HOF
LG - Will Wolford
LT - John Jackson
Tomlin lost in to Blake Bortles and the Jaguars with
QB - Ben Rothlisberger - HOF
TB - Leveon Bell - Best RB in Football
FB - Rosey Nix - Pro Bowler
WR - Antonion Brown - Best WR in Football
WR - Juju Smith Shuster
WR - Martavis Bryant - Freak
LT - Vlllaneauva - Pro Bowler
LG - Foster
C - Pouncey - Pro Bowler
RG - Decastro - Pro Bowler
RT - Gilbert
Cowher never had that much offensive talent to squander and opportunity like Tomlin has.
If Tomlin can prove he can win big with Kenny he'll re-write his own history. For now, he was really good with Cowher's players. Cowher on the other hand took over a below average team and won with many of Noll's players, built his own roster many times over and won bigger then Tomlin ever has. Since Tomlin has built his own roster, he doesn't really challenge for anything.