Though the 2024 season didn’t end in the fashion that many expected for the Pittsburgh Steelers, especially after the way they started the season, the fact of the matter is that the Steelers making the playoffs in the midst of major transition for the franchise was rather impressive any way you try and slice it.
They did so under the guidance of longtime head coach Mike Tomlin, who continues to find ways to win in the regular season, keeping the Steelers competitive year after year. Last season, despite the five-game losing streak to end the year, was another example of that, especially with some quarterback changes right before the start of the year, and then in the middle of the season.
Now, the Steelers’ roster is changed up once again, particularly at quarterback, as Aaron Rodgers ins in the fold this season as the starter after going with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields last season. Despite the changes at quarterback and the continued churning of the roster — not to mention changes on the coaching staff — Tomlin remains one of the best returning head coaches in the NFL.
In fact, Pro Football Focus’ Dalton Wasserman ranked Tomlin as the fifth-best returning head coach in the NFL entering the 2025 season, behind only Kansas City’s Andy Reid, Denver’s Sean Payton, Los Angeles’ Sean McVay, and Baltimore’s John Harbaugh.
Chargers’ head coach Jim Harbaugh, San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan, Philadelphia’s Nick Sirianni, Detroit’s Dan Campbell and Cleveland’s Kevin Stefanski round out the top 10.
“Despite recent criticism about a lack of playoff success, Mike Tomlin still finds a way to squeeze every ounce of execution out of his teams. He still has yet to go through a losing campaign across 18 seasons as Pittsburgh’s head coach, though there have certainly been close calls,” Wasserman writes regarding Tomlin in the rankings from PFF. “Making the postseason in 2024 despite a turbulent quarterback situation is an impressive feat. The Steelers’ identity, though, is their defense, which played at an elite level once again in 2024. They ranked fourth in PFF defensive grade and first in PFF pass-rush grade, led by future Hall of Famers T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward.
“They could use the occasional spurt of offense, though, as they went 8-0 when allowing 18 points or fewer and 2-8 when they allowed 19 or more.”
The lack of playoff success under Tomlin in the last decade is incredibly frustrating and is a completely fair, valid argument against Tomlin’s greatness. The Steelers, put simply, have failed time and time again under Tomlin in the playoffs in the last decade.
Now, have those teams that have gone one and done in the last five trips to the postseason under Tomlin been good enough to win a playoff game in those matchups? Probably not, especially the two most recent trips. Just getting into the dance is an accomplishment, but those one-and-done trips have shown just how far off the Steelers are under Tomlin in recent years.
Hence the changes the Steelers have made, from the coaching staff, to the front office, down to the roster. Changes have been made in a significant way, and now the Steelers believe they can compete in 2025, especially with Rodgers at quarterback, giving the Steelers the best signal-caller they’ve had since Ben Roethlisberger.
Make no mistake about it, though: the Steelers will go as the defense goes. Throughout the early portion of the season in 2024, the defense was elite, getting to the quarterback, creating turnovers and largely suffocating opponents. They were worn down late in the year though, which coincided with the offensive struggles, leading to that ugly five-game losing streak in which the Steelers were overmatched and outclassed.
That five-game losing streak led to plenty of questions about Tomlin’s future, and there was even an off-season full of speculation that Tomlin could be traded, or that he should seek his own Andy Reid chapter and leave the Steelers to go elsewhere to win.
Neither of those things happened — or will happen. Tomlin remains, and he’ll get as much as he can out of the roster in 2025, especially in the regular season. It all comes down to the playoffs though, and there’s history there that Tomlin’s teams struggle and come up short.
That doesn’t hinder his standing among the league’s best head coaches though, at least right now. He’s one of the best coming back as head coach with the Black and Gold, and should field another playoff team in 2025.
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