Mike Tomlin became the longest-tenured active head coach in American professional sports this offseason when Greg Popovich retired. According to one analyst, that reign might be short-lived.
CBS Sports’ Jeff Kerr released a list of the top five head coaches on the hot seat and had Tomlin in the top spot with the most on the line this upcoming season.
“Despite his regular-season success, the Steelers have not won a playoff game since 2016 and are on a six-game losing streak in the postseason,” Kerr wrote. “Since Tomlin took the Steelers to Super Bowl XLV, Pittsburgh is 3-9 in the postseason. The Steelers are mired in a state of mediocrity under Tomlin, just being good enough for him to retain his job.”
A nearly 20-year gap in winning a Super Bowl and 15-year gap in appearing in one rivals the longest streaks in franchise history since the Steelers became a dynasty in the 1970s. The 1979 Super Bowl win to the 1995 Super Bowl loss was the largest gap in appearances and the Steelers are rapidly approaching that mark. Considering they had Ben Roethlisberger in his prime for 11 of those seasons, that reflects poorly on the status and legacy of Tomlin.
On the flipside, he has been able to make the playoffs nearly every season since Roethlisberger retired despite fielding some very poor offenses. And in the years when the Steelers have missed the playoffs over the years, they have never bottomed out and almost always have something to play for in the final week of the season.
A lot of teams would kill for that type of consistency. But the standard is different in Pittsburgh.
Kevin Colbert recently described the Rooney family’s guiding principles. He said they understand lulls are going to happen, but the lulls can’t last too long. It feels like the Steelers have been in a decade-long lull at this point. That would be the main argument for claiming Tomlin is on the hot seat.
In reality, the Steelers gave Tomlin a very lucrative contract extension last offseason worth $50 million over three years to keep him in town through 2027. The Rooney family isn’t known for throwing money away like that, and it would be surprising to outright fire Tomlin in the middle of a contract commitment unless things truly bottomed out and got ugly in the process.
How might things get ugly? A failure to sign Aaron Rodgers would be a bad first step.
“Pittsburgh needs Aaron Rodgers, or the Steelers could have their worst season under Tomlin — and potentially cost him his job,” Kerr wrote. “Whether Rodgers is in Pittsburgh or not, the pressure is on Tomlin to get this franchise past the wild-card round of the playoffs in 2025.”
Mike Tomlin has reportedly been the driving force behind the Steelers’ pursuit of Rodgers. If a surprising turn happens and Rodgers decides to retire, the blame might fall at the feet of Tomlin. And the Steelers will be left with one of the worst QB situations in the league.
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