Mike Tomlin has now guided the Steelers to five playoff berths in the 2020s. Tyler Loop‘s missed field goal secured an eighth Pittsburgh AFC North title during the Tomlin era. His team is a home underdog to the Texans in the wild-card round, however.
The Steelers have not won a playoff game since their 2016 divisional-round victory over the Alex Smith-led Chiefs, going 0-6 since. They will now take on a Houston team carrying the No. 1-ranked defense. This creates another challenge for Tomlin, who has lost two playoff home games (to the Jaguars and Browns) since his most recent postseason win.
Rumblings about the Steelers and Ravens moving on from iconic coaches emerged before the teams’ Week 18 division-deciding tilt, and Baltimore has since moved on from John Harbaugh. A report indicating Tomlin might step away on his own accord after the season also surfaced just before Pittsburgh’s regular-season finale, and more has come out on the topic.
If Tomlin is to leave the Steelers on his own terms, a source informed ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler a TV role would likely carry more interest than entering the coaching market immediately. This aligns with what we heard over the weekend. As it stands, Tomlin has “open invitations” for a network gig if he steps way from the Steelers.
Sean Payton and Bruce Arians took this path in the fairly recent past; both TV sabbaticals lasted one season. Conversely, Bill Cowher and Jimmy Johnson stayed in TV. Jon Gruden took nine seasons off in between coaching stints. Cowher left the Steelers after 15 seasons, doing so a year after winning Super Bowl XL. Sean McVay resisted TV rumors after a disappointing 2022 season. Rumors about Cowher coming back to coaching faded long ago. It will be interesting if Tomlin would take the Cowher path or the Payton-Arians route should he venture into the TV world.
At 53, Tomlin does appear at a career crossroads. The former Super Bowl-winning HC has appeared in a second Super Bowl and another AFC championship game (in 2016), but success has been fleeting since. That said, the Pittsburgh staple extended his streak of non-losing seasons to an unfathomable 19 this year by reaching 10-7. Tomlin doing this without quarterback stability since Ben Roethlisberger‘s 2019 elbow injury has added a degree of difficulty to the high-floor routine, though the trend of the Steelers securing playoff berths only to lose their first game has soured a sizable sect of the fanbase on the longtime HC.
Aaron Rodgers also has unsurprisingly waffled on retirement plans; it would certainly be worth wondering if Rodgers’ return would be contingent on Tomlin staying. Tomlin played a big role in convincing Rodgers to sign with the Steelers. Although Tomlin’s latest extension runs through 2026, the Steelers have a team option on him for 2027. It must be exercised by March 1. Tomlin confirmed shortly after the Steelers’ wild-card loss to the Ravens last year he would return. Clarity here will likely come not too long after this Pittsburgh season ends.