You knew the moment the news broke, Rich Eisen would weigh in. Mike Tomlin received a three-year contract extension Monday and outside of the Tomlin family, there’s no one happier to hear the news than Eisen.
“If Mike Tomlin didn’t get this three-year contract extension, he would be somebody else’s coach within five minutes,” Eisen said on The Rich Eisen Show Monday afternoon. “I’m telling y’all, he is one of the best.”
Eisen has been one of Tomlin’s biggest media supporters, defending and advocating for tje longtime Steelers head coach even during difficult stretches. He largely supported him during the Steelers’ three-game losing streak last December, which dropped them to 7-7 and on the outside looking in at the playoffs. Under QB Mason Rudolph, Pittsburgh rallied to win its final three and make the postseason. But the Steelers’ season ended as it has too often in recent years: one-and-done in a Wild Card loss to the Buffalo Bills.
That’s Tomlin’s biggest knock. While his teams have stayed at or above .500 for his entire tenure, Pittsburgh hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016. It’s the team’s longest drought since the merger, the Steelers even managing to find postseason wins during the post-dynasty 80s and early 2000s that saw some bad seasons. They lost to the Bills in 2023, got blown out by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2021, upset by the Cleveland Browns in 2020, and shocked by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2017.
Eisen understood that concern but fell back on the notion that it’d be difficult to find a replacement who is better.
“I think he’s one of the best. You could do a whole lot worse if you want to use the other flip side of it,” he said. “There’s a lot to be said for continuity. I love it. I do love it. And I know this is gonna get aggregated by a whole ton of Pittsburgh blogging spots and what have you.”
First of all, hello Mr. Eisen. And welcome to our dojo. We’ve certainly gotten good mileage out of recapping Eisen’s comments, stirring up a frenzy on social media and in our comments section. Today is likely to produce the same even though Tomlin’s extension should come as no shock, confirmed by ownership early in the offseason as something that would get done. It was only a question of when and for how many years. The answer? June and for three additional seasons, Tomlin avoiding lame-duck status.
Eisen has a genuinely high impression of Tomlin though the framing of “you could do worse” isn’t the curve coaches should be graded on. Either a coach is meeting the standard, or he isn’t. If he’s not, you move on and try again. Tomlin’s playoff record must turn around and quickly to at least get past the hump of the Wild Card Round. To angry fans, of which there are many, Eisen considered the notion of hiring a “name” coach next year but cautioned the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
“All I would say is the following to a Steeler fan that has this issue. Let’s just say you get your wish. and the Steelers say no to Mike Tomlin. You’re not getting a a contract extension. We’re gonna go all-in like the Cowboys on Mike McCarthy, right? That if you don’t win this year, it’s over…who would you prefer to have?” Eisen said. “You wanna go get that hot coordinator? Is that what you want to do? Or [Bill] Belichick? Do you think Belichick and the Steelers, that’s a marriage? When he’s only got potentially one contract left in him.”
Belichick in Pittsburgh would be a scenario made from Steelers fans’ nightmares. To Eisen’s point, there have been plenty of highly coveted coordinators who didn’t make it as head coaches. The skill sets are different, and the NFL’s patience is thin. The team’s model is about stability and consistency, not knee-jerk moves. It led the Steelers to stay the course through Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher’s tough stretches. Eisen said a former coach like Mike Vrabel, fired by the Tennessee Titans and now consultant with the Cleveland Browns, might’ve made sense on paper but not to the franchise.
“That’s what I would say [to fans]. Who else would you rather have? Hot coordinator, somebody else just for the sake of somebody else? I think you got the wrong ownership group for that,” he said.
With Tomlin extended through 2027, the Steelers are tracking to have just three coaches since 1969 in what will become a 58-year span. Noll hired in 1969, Cowher in 1992, Tomlin in 2007. Unprecedented in sports, especially in the modern era when there’s so much pressure to make a change. For Rich Eisen, his tone hasn’t wavered. Mike Tomlin remains the right man to get the job done. The Rooneys agree.
