With the Pittsburgh Steelers not having won a playoff game since 2016, there’s been loads of frustration directed at head coach Mike Tomlin. Unsurprisingly though, it doesn’t sound like Tomlin will be going anywhere unless it’s on his own accord. Appearing on the You Better You Bet podcast, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said Tomlin isn’t on the hot seat.
“When the Steelers and Mike Tomlin go their own ways, it’s gonna be up to Mike Tomlin,” Dulac said. “Unless the bottom falls out, and the bottom hasn’t fallen out, nor is it about to. So I think it’s gonna be up to when he wants to leave, is when that’s going to happen.”
The bottom falling out is subjective. If the Steelers, with their rebuilt roster after an aggressive offseason acquiring Jalen Ramsey, DK Metcalf and Aaron Rodgers, go 5-12 this season, does that mean Tomlin would be at risk of getting fired? As Dulac implied, that’s unlikely to begin with, but it poses an interesting thought.
Even if the Steelers season ends up being a disaster, it seems unlikely the team would fire Tomlin and pay him not to coach. His recent contract extension takes him through the 2027 season and was worth $50 million over three years, so the Steelers would be on the hook to pay out approximately $16.6 million for the final two years if he was let go after this season. That’s not the team’s M.O., and Tomlin likely isn’t feeling any pressure to keep his job.
Dulac’s report is similar to what most insiders around the league have said. If Tomlin leaves, it will be because he wants a new opportunity elsewhere, be it coaching or taking a broadcast job. There are certainly a lot of fans who would like to see Tomlin go due to the lack of playoff success, and Pittsburgh’s aggressiveness this offseason shows that they’re fed up with the lack of postseason victories.
It’s highly unlikely that the Steelers aren’t at least in the playoff mix for the majority of the season. They always have been under Tomlin, and their roster this season is talented enough for them to be competitive. It’s been an offseason unlike any we’ve seen in Steelers history with the team making two blockbuster trades and signing Rodgers to try and go all-in this season, and the team’s performance shouldn’t put Tomlin’s job at risk.
But if the Steelers fail to win in the postseason again, the calls for Tomlin’s job from the fanbase and even the national media will continue to get louder. It won’t change the team’s decision-making process and them paying Tomlin not to coach isn’t likely to happen, but Dulac’s line about the “bottom falling out” is at least notable and poses the question of what it would take for the Steelers to move on from Mike Tomlin.
