The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered another one-and-done postseason at the hands of the Buffalo Bills on Monday.After shifting their focus to the offseason, the status of head coach Mike Tomlin became a national media talking point. He only has one year left on the contract, so the Steelers have a decision to make to extend him or not.
Tomlin reportedly told his players on Tuesday in team meetings that reports of him leaving the team were unfounded, and today team president Art Rooney II confirmed this. Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported today on X that Rooney said the Steelers “plan to extend Mike’s contract.”
This comes as no surprise after the reports on Tuesday but serves as official confirmation. Tomlin also addressed this in his Thursday press conference earlier in the day. He was last extended in 2021 when he signed a three-year extension to remain with the team through 2024. This extension, and Tomlin’s desire to return, should ensure there is no lame-duck situation where Tomlin is coaching and set to become a free agent the following season. That would have been a storyline in the media for the entire 2024 season.
Tomlin just wrapped up his 17th season with the team and extended his streak of consecutive non-losing seasons, which is also 17, to inch closer to the all-time record. His career record as a head coach is 173-100-2 (.633). That has him tied for the 11th-most wins of all time by an NFL head coach with Jeff Fisher. He is also the longest-tenured head coach in the league with the same team and figures to extended that streak into the future.
In the playoffs, Tomlin has had less success. He is 8-10 (.444) and coming off a fifth-straight loss in the postseason. He experienced success in the playoffs early in his career, but it has taken a turn for the worse. Listening to Tomlin in his Thursday press conference to wrap up the season, he sounded as focused as ever on starting the process over and gathering as much information in the exit-interview process to make the best possible decisions moving forward.
Now that both sides have confirmed their intentions, there will be no pressing need to get the extension done. If it happens now, it will have to be before the Reese’s Senior Bowl week in Mobile, Ala., at the end of January.
