At his end-of-season press conference, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said that things would change for the Steelers “on a lot of levels.” The assumption with that comment was that there would be changes to Pittsburgh’s coaching staff following a five-game skid to end the season. But up to this point, the only known change to Pittsburgh’s staff has been the departure of inside linebackers coach Aaron Curry, who left to take the linebackers coach job with the New York Jets.
That decision may have been more Curry’s than the team’s. Given the lack of other changes up to this point, Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said on The PM Team on 93.7 The Fan Thursday that the comments are “meaningless” and didn’t have a “backbone.”
“You guys remember this as well as I do, Mike’s [Tomlin] season-ending news conference, ‘There’s gonna be changes,’ Fittipaldo said. “That whole speech, it’s kind of meaningless now. Because he said it himself, and they’re not making any changes.
“I know he said what he said, but I don’t think there was any really backbone behind what he said,” Fittipaldo added.
Fittipaldo did say he still expects more changes to come, but it’s likely that no major changes, at least in terms of a coordinator or key position coaches, are coming. If coaches have had their contracts expire, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them not retained, but the changes so far and what will likely transpire are far from the scope that was expected at the end of the season.
Making changes for the sake of change is never a good idea, but given just how bad Pittsburgh’s season ended, it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see the Steelers move on from some coaches, especially with the defense underperforming and the offense failing to hold a lead. The Steelers played good teams, but they also didn’t play up to their talent level. The lack of coaching changes and the idea that the Steelers are largely going to run it back doesn’t provide a lot of comfort given how the season ended.
Tomlin’s words do feel empty at this point given the lack of changes that have been made. There could’ve been a good argument for getting rid of defensive coordinator Teryl Austin or offensive line coach Pat Meyer, but the team opted to hold steady. Both of them are going to need their units to show significant improvement if they want to stay in Pittsburgh beyond 2025.
We’ll see what other changes, if any, do wind up happening. But what Mike Tomlin said at his end-of-season press conference certainly hasn’t matched what’s occurred so far.
