Not only are the Pittsburgh Steelers not firing head coach Mike Tomlin, they intend to get him under contract even longer, so said team owner Art Rooney II. He said that during his first round of media interviews in the wake of the 2023 season. Recently sitting down with KDKA’s Bob Pompeani, he explained why he believes Tomlin is still the man for the job.
“When you see Mike’s interaction with players in the building and certainly the respect that particularly the veteran players have for him and their belief in him”, he said, “Mike is one of the best coaches in the league as far as I’m concerned, and we’re happy we have him”.
Tomlin is the longest-tenured head coach in the National Football League, even predating Rooney as president. His late father, Dan Rooney, still controlled day-to-day operations when the Steelers hired Tomlin in 2007. That’s how long he’s been around.
Yet all good things must come to an end. It’s still somewhat surreal to imagine Bill Belichick being alive and yet not the New England Patriots’ head coach. There will come a time when Tomlin is no longer the Steelers’ head coach. Yet it seems as though he will decide the time, for now, and not Rooney.
The pair of them and the organization as a whole have been under a lot of scrutiny in recent years. That just comes with the territory of not winning in the postseason. Tomlin recently became only the ninth head coach of the Super Bowl era to go seven seasons without a playoff win with a single team.
The point is, nine out of 10 coaches are fired before it even gets to that point. Tomlin’s early-career success obviously bought him a lot of cache, but the past dozen years have been bleak. Only once since 2010 have the Steelers won multiple playoff games or reached the conference finals. They have three total playoff wins since then.
But players still want to play for him after all these years. And it begins early, before they’re even in the league. A true boots-on-the-ground scout, Tomlin forges relationships with players during the pre-draft process. At their Pro Days. At the NFL Scouting Combine. Read interviews with players at the Senior Bowl for the impression he still makes on these young players.
Regardless of what anyone on the outside says, Tomlin has more support from his players than just about any other head coach. It seems we constantly hear about him potentially “losing the locker room”, but it never happens.
But Tomlin is certainly no Teflon Don, and even Rooney acknowledges that something’s got to give. They need to start winning in the postseason again. They are in their worst drought in modern NFL history. This is not the Steeler Way. It’s certainly not The Standard.
Rooney can say and do anything he wants regarding Tomlin and his contract status. But as far as the court of public opinion is concerned, his playoff record will continue to be critical in judging him.
