Former NFL offensive lineman Damien Woody believes the Pittsburgh Steelers should have looked into trading head coach Mike Tomlin this offseason.
Tomlin, who has a no-trade clause in his contract that runs through the 2027 season, noticeably told teams to not waste their time pursuing him in January.
“You know what? Coming into the offseason I said that the Pittsburgh Steelers should seriously entertain trading Mike Tomlin,” Woody said on “Unsportsmanlike”. “I really felt like the Pittsburgh Steelers should have traded Mike Tomlin for a couple reasons. Number one, Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since what, 2016? It’s been almost a decade since the Pittsburgh Steelers, the six-time Super Bowl champions, have won a playoff game. Three presidential inaugurations. That’s been a long time. We all know and recognize the greatness of Mike Tomlin. We know he’s never had a losing season, but we’ve seen this over and over and over again. And even Mike Tomlin himself has always said the standard is the standard. Well, what’s the standard in Pittsburgh, the standard as an organization? It’s always about championships.”
The one thing Woody is correct about is Tomlin’s lack of recent postseason success. He has now lost six in a row in the postseason, which is a Steelers franchise record and the longest active streak in Tomlin’s tenure.
With that, Tomlin joins four other coaches in the pantheon of NFL history as coaches who have lost six or more straight playoff games in their career. Jim Mora, Marvin Lewis, Marty Schottenheimer, and Shane Owen are the only other coaches to reach that mark. Lewis holds the record with seven straight playoff losses.
A trade is unlikely due to Tomlin’s contract unless unforeseen circumstances arise over the next few seasons.
As for his tenure in Pittsburgh, while Tomlin brings great qualities to the table, the success has to turn around at some point. If Tomlin can not turn around his lack of postseason success, the answer is simple -- he will not be around Pittsburgh much longer. He will be back next season and likely 2026, too, but even with the Steelers, patience is wearing thin with so many losses, and the same script is being run back year after year despite changes around Tomlin.