Mike Tomlin has been a longtime fixture at the top of head coach rankings around the NFL media landscape. Generally speaking, the fan base has a much harsher view of Tomlin than most of the national media guys. In NBC Sports’ annual head coach rankings put together by Patrick Daugherty, Tomlin has slid out of the top five. He lands at No. 8 for the 2025 rankings.
“Making the playoffs would be enough for most coaches. Mike Tomlin is not most coaches,” Daugherty wrote. “There’s also the reality that in a 14-team field, not all postseason appearances are created equal. With zero January victories in five tries since 2017-18, the Steelers rarely lose enough to miss the tournament but never win once they get there. They have grown comfortable serving as a sacrificial lamb seventh seed in a quarterback-loaded AFC.”
Whatever you think of Tomlin, it’s nearly impossible to become a deep playoff contender until you have a top-10 quarterback. Heck, the Steelers would have even benefitted from a consistent top-15 quarterback over the last several years.
Even Bill Belichick had some pretty miserable seasons when Tom Brady was injured or after he left for Tampa Bay late in his career.
For a coach like Tomlin, it’s hard to separate the coaching from the personnel decisions. He undoubtedly has his hands all over the decision-making process. He deserves to be dinged for the failures in that area to a certain extent. But in terms of being a head coach and leading a team, Tomlin is still among the best in the league.
Listen to almost any player who has played for him or any coach he’s worked with, and they almost unanimously describe how great he is as a coach.
Ahead of Tomlin in the rankings are Dan Campbell, Jim Harbaugh, Nick Sirianni, Kyle Shanahan, John Harbaugh, Sean McVay and Andy Reid. Sirianni was receiving quite a bit of heat this time last year and he is now viewed in a completely different light. Things can change rather quickly with the presence of a franchise quarterback on the roster.
Will Tomlin be able to hold onto the job long enough to get another franchise quarterback? The Steelers appear to be angling themselves to take some swings at the position over the next two drafts, including the 2025 NFL Draft in just a couple weeks.
They are also still heavily linked to future first-ballot Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers.
“Enter the Steelers’ riskiest gambit yet. If he ever actually signs, Aaron Rodgers’ ‘big personality’ shouldn’t be a huge concern for a coach who kept Antonio Brown on a Hall of Fame track. It’s Rodgers’ immobility and increasing inaccuracy that could have Tomlin starting off into the Week 8 distance wishing he had a Russell Wilson moon ball or a Najee Harris two-yard dive,” Daugherty wrote. “If this front office’s last-ditch quarterback gamble doesn’t pay off, it could be time for a 2012 Andy Reid-esque parting of ways. The Steelers blow it up, and Tomlin puts someone else over the top.”
I can understand fans viewing Rodgers as a last-ditch effort, but it doesn’t feel like the Steelers are panicking or treating 2025 like the last straw with Tomlin. He signed a three-year extension last June and the Steelers will almost certainly not move on from him until the end of his contract. I do think this three-season arc will be pivotal to Tomlin’s future with the Steelers.
Step one is solving the quarterback situation, but the aging defense will soon become an issue. It’s only going to get harder to stay competitive as the Steelers transition defensively, and the bottom could fall out if they swing and miss on another first-round quarterback.
