Even though it’ll be the Kansas City Chiefs feeling most of the heat Monday morning after getting blown out in Super Bowl LIX, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin caught a stray during a commercial break. During one fourth quarter commercial for local Pittsburgh law group Romanow Law, Tomlin’s recent performance became the focus.
“Is there an area of law that focuses on firing underperforming football coaches?” the commercial says, in part, finishing with a quip about “the standard,” a popular Tomlin-ism.
With eight-straight seasons without a playoff win, Tomlin’s under more heat from the local (and even national) media than ever before. Signed to a three-year, $50 million extension ahead of the 2024 season, Tomlin isn’t going anywhere and will return as Pittsburgh’s head coach in 2025.
The Steelers will try again to get over the hump. But with a shaky quarterback situation and few impressive external options, competing in an AFC full of top-tier quarterbacks will again prove difficult. The organization failed to make any major coaching changes either, returning both coordinators with the only tweaks coming to positional coaches.
Pittsburgh figures to add a No. 2 receiver and get younger along the defensive line in free agency, the draft, or both, but they’re moves unlikely to change the outlook of the franchise. Pittsburgh will compete in an AFC North with QBs Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow and are likely to enter 2025 projected to finish third in the AFC North.
With a Pittsburgh team just trying to win the Wild Card and aren’t anywhere near Super Bowl contenders and with Tomlin having a sub-.500 playoff record, losers of each of his last six, the pressure will mount as the losses pile up. But the only man in charge of making a change, owner Art Rooney II, seems content with riding it out. Fans, including ones who buy local ad spots, disagree.
