Category: Mike Tomlin

Former Steelers QB tells us what we already knew about HC Mike Tomlin

Mike Tomlin has far more control over this team than many realize.

If an NFL team is going to be consistently successful, it takes a team effort. Whether it is the players, coaches or front office, everyone has a job to do and that job is vital. Unless of course you are the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is according to former Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger.

Roethlisberger noted on his podcast that there is a power imbalance with head coach Mike Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan with Tomlin holding the final say in roster decisions. Perhaps beyond what is typically the case with other teams.

“I know Omar Khan is the general manager,” Roethlisberger said. “Mike Tomlin makes decisions… Mike Tomlin has decisions and makes most of the decisions in Pittsburgh. He can say he doesn’t and this, that, and the other – we all know that he’s got a lot of pull. He’s been here for 18 years. You wouldn’t be here that long if you didn’t have pull and say.”

We already knew that Tomlin did this with his coaches and now it appears it extends to the front office as well. Tomlin has obviously kept his coordinators under his thumb, hence no real changes during his tenure but the idea he’s not working with Khan and Andy Weidl as a team could explain the struggles to build this roster.

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Comparing the Steelers coaching staff to the elite of the NFL

The Steelers have a much smaller coaching staff than the two teams playing in the Super Bowl.

One of the questions the media asked Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney II recently was about the size of the Steelers coaching staff size. It’s fairly common knowledge that the Steelers coaching staff is one of the smallest in the NFL and a point of contention for fans.

Rooney downplayed the disparity but we wondered just how much of a difference there is between the Steelers and the best of the NFL. And by best, we are using the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. The two teams squaring off in the Super Bowl in less than two weeks.

The Steelers list 19 coaches on their website not counting the team’s strength and conditioning coach. By comparison, the Chiefs have 28 coaches on their site and the Eagles have 25 coaches.

Is this enough to make a difference? The results on the field say yes. A greater division of labor between the offense and the defense seems to yield better results on the field. In particular, both the Chiefs and Eagles have their own individual run game and passing game coordinators while the Steelers have neither. Given how much the Steelers offense struggles, these positions feel like a no-brainer.

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Steelers insider: Art Rooney II ‘scared to death’ to fire Mike Tomlin

Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II is living in his fears with head coach Mike Tomlin.

In a closed-door press conference with the Pittsburgh media, Steelers owner and president Art Rooney II continued to show his support of head coach Mike Tomlin.

(Rooney does it every year like this, yet fans blasted him for making it hush-hush and not streaming it live like Tomlin’s weekly pressers.)

Rooney, president of the Steelers since 2003 and owner since 2017, recycled the same old comments. Nothing new to see here.

“I share (fans’) frustration.”

“Look at how many games Mike has won… we still feel good about him as a leader.”

Rooney also said turning head coaches over is not a good strategy.

Tim Benz, Steelers insider for TribLive, shared these observations in his Jan. 28 column:

But is it a good strategy to keep a guy whose last playoff win was in 2016? I don’t think so. Twenty-eight other coaches have won a playoff game since then.

Yet Rooney seems on board with keeping Tomlin because he is petrified of firing him. He’s scared to death that the next coach won’t equal even the slightly above-average results Tomlin has forged the past eight years, let alone that he’d be capable of getting to two Super Bowls and winning one as Tomlin did early in his career.

Rooney is paralyzed by fear when it comes to making a change because it’d be shattering the family-ownership tradition of never firing a coach since Chuck Noll was hired in 1969.

Sometimes, it’s better to divorce when the marriage is failing. Rooney, 72, must begin considering Tomlin’s exit strategy (if he hasn’t already). No more extensions beyond 2027, short of winning a Super Bowl. And we know from watching these incredible teams throughout the playoffs that the Steelers are more than just a quarterback away from the Stairway to Seven.

As Benz pointed out, Rooney’s father, Dan, eased Noll out after the 1991 season and “put more heat on Bill Cowher after three straight playoff misses from 1998 to 2000 than Tomlin had ever felt during this drought.”

Art will never be Dan — fans have seen that with their own eyes since his last day working at the Steelers offices in 2009. But something has to give. The bandaid should’ve been ripped off a long time ago.

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Steelers legend James Harrison blasts Mike Tomlin’s ‘standard’

“The standard is the standard” used to mean something to the Pittsburgh Steelers players and organization. Now it’s meaningless hot air.

“The standard is the standard” has been the mantra of the Pittsburgh Steelers organization for decades. It used to mean something, but like many fans of the team, a Steelers legend agrees they’re now pointless hot air.

“It’s not what you’re used to. The standard is the standard. It feels like a saying now. It’s not something you actually see,” James Harrison said on the Jan. 22 episode of Willie Colon’s “Why Willie Show.”

This isn’t the first time the two-time All-Pro has called out Mike Tomlin and the Steelers front office.

Last year on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Harrison was vocal about lowered expectations for the storied franchise.

Harrison believes Tomlin is largely to blame for Pittsburgh’s five-game skid and eight-year playoff win drought.

“If I’m the head coach of a football team, and I’ve been the head coach of this football team for however long that’s been, and now the team’s not doing well — that all has to fall on my shoulders,” Harrison said.

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Steelers CB offers word of warning for Tomlin haters

Donte Jackson tells fans to be careful what they wish for.

There is a huge member of the NFL community inside and outside of the Pittsburgh Steelers ecosystem who believes the Steelers should move on from head coach Mike Tomlin.

Another group, also fairly significant, supports keeping Tomlin, often citing the unknown of moving to a new head coach as reason enough to stick to what you already know.

One Steelers player who offered his insight into the situation as someone who has seen it go the other was was cornerback Donte Jackson. After spending a tumultuous six seasons with the Carolina Panthers, he offered some insight into how the idea of changing coaches can be harmful when he spoke to the media.

“The message to the Tomlin haters. I would just be like, ‘Be careful what you wish for.’ I’ve seen in my six years in Carolina, I’ve seen three coaches get fired during the season. Some guys go through their whole career and not see one head coach get fired, period. Not let alone during the season, bro. I’ve seen three get fired during the season, bro. That’s crazy. I’ve been under three interim head coaches. And in six seasons. That’s in six seasons.”

The counter to all this is the Steelers situation when they hired Tomlin. When Bill Cowher retired, the Steelers replaced a legend with a complete unknown in Tomlin with zero head coaching experience. That worked out pretty well so you cannot look at sticking with the bad you know for the unknown.

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Steelers made a mistake rejecting potential Bears-Mike Tomlin trade

The Steelers missed a great opportunity by rejecting the Bears’ offer for Mike Tomlin, keeping them locked outside the top 20 in 2025 draft.

It has become public knowledge—thanks to insider Adam Schefter—that the Chicago Bears were apparently rejected in their attempt to negotiate a trade for Pittsburgh Steelers HC Mike Tomlin.

Trades involving head coaches are typically rare, but the compensation packages have been enormous over the past few decades, as seen with two of the most famous examples: Jon Gruden in 2002 and Sean Payton in 2023.

The Bears recently signed former Detroit Lions OC Ben Johnson as their next head coach, and the Steelers may regret not pulling the trigger heading into the 2025 offseason.

Plenty of other HC candidates, including Johnson, could have adequately filled the theoretical vacancy left by Tomlin, and the trade compensation would have likely been enormous.

Instead of potentially acquiring the Chicago Bears’ 10th overall pick in the 2025 draft—along with additional picks—the Steelers will once again be forced to draft outside the top 20, locking themselves into another 10-7 ‘winning’ season under Tomlin in 2025.

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Terry Bradshaw predicted the Steelers’ Russell Wilson disaster

Terry Bradshaw warned Mike Tomlin about benching Justin Fields for Russell Wilson. The Steelers didn’t listen—and it cost them dearly.

HC Mike Tomlin refused to listen to the masses regarding the criticism of benching Justin Fields in favor of Russell Wilson, and it cost the Pittsburgh Steelers toward the end of the season. Former Steelers legend, QB Terry Bradshaw, tried to warn the Tomlin-led team that this would be the case.

Fields was benched despite winning four of his first six starts for the Pittsburgh Steelers to begin 2024, and Bradshaw was one of the biggest critics of the decision to start Wilson in Week 7 of 2024:

“I know that Wilson came over from Denver. If Sean Payton, one of the greatest offensive minds in the NFL, gives up on a guy that’s thrown 25 touchdowns and six interceptions after 15 games, I’m telling you that there is something wrong with Wilson that I don’t know.”

If Tomlin had listened to Bradshaw’s warning and wisdom for the team he loves, one could argue that the Steelers may not have lost five straight to end the 2024 season.

Will Tomlin rectify his mistake by choosing to move forward with Fields in 2025, or will the Steelers’ head coach once again rely on the aging Wilson to lead the team to another subpar 10-7 season?

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Mike Tomlin would be a fool to leave the Steelers

Mike Tomlin has it great in Pittsburgh and has no motivation to leave.

We all knew there would be options for the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason when it comes to head coach Mike Tomlin. Despite his postseason struggles, Tomlin’s resume is as good as any in the NFL minus a handful of names so there will always be teams who hope Tomlin’s message will be fresh for their team where it’s gone stale in Pittsburgh.

But there’s zero motivation for Tomlin to leave. Tomlin signed a three-year, $50 million contract extension and has the full confidence of Steelers ownership. It has become clear the Steelers expectations do not center around Super Bowls anymore which fits with what Tomlin can do. Winning records every year, stretches within the season of exceptional play which offers just a glimmer of hope for next season when the team inevitably falls flat in the playoffs.

In the case of the Chicago Bears, it was reportedly the Steelers who rebuffed the call. But despite the team’s ongoing loyalty to Tomlin, there had to be a moment when the idea of a boatload of draft capital for Tomlin, while there are so many exceptional coordinators out there in line for head coaching jobs, looked pretty darn tempting.

We don’t expect the Bears call to be the last one the Steelers take. But we expect the results to be the same. The Rooneys are committed to Tomlin and Tomlin knows how good he has it in Pittsburgh. We just hope Tomlin wants to find some answers to get this team over the hump and bring back the team the fans want to see.

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Bears fail in attempt to lure Steelers HC Mike Tomlin

The Chicago Bears called the Pittsburgh Steelers to see if they would be allowed to talk to and potentially try to trade for Mike Tomlin.

A no-trade clause did not sway the Chicago Bears from inquiring through the Pittsburgh Steelers about a trade for Mike Tomlin.

According to a league source of ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Bears recently called the Steelers about the Super Bowl-winning head coach:

The Bears recently called the Steelers to see if they would be allowed to talk to and potentially try to trade for longtime head coach Mike Tomlin, only to have Pittsburgh rebuff their inquiry, league sources told ESPN.

But discussions never made it to Tomlin.

Schefter divulged that another team had also checked into the idea, but the no-trade clause halted efforts.

Teams can try all they want, but Tomlin isn’t going anywhere. Last offseason, he signed a three-year extension, keeping him with Pittsburgh through the 2027 season.

When asked about the rumors in his season-ending press conference, Tomlin simply responded: “Save your time.”

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Steelers HC Mike Tomlin needs to ask himself one critical question

After 18 seasons as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin finds himself at a crossroads.

After 18 seasons as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin finds himself at a crossroads. Despite his impressive streak of never having a losing season—which fans are beyond tired of hearing—postseason success has eluded Tomlin’s teams.

He needs to look at himself in the mirror and ask himself one critical question: Do you still have it in you?

For Tomlin, it shouldn’t just be about maintaining the status quo. It should be about reigniting the spark, embracing innovation, and adapting to an evolving NFL landscape. Steelers fans and media alike question whether Tomlin should move on entirely from coaching or take on a fresh challenge with another team.

Tomlin’s legacy in Pittsburgh is undeniable, but great coaches know when to push forward or step aside–just as Bill Cowher did in 2006. The Steelers might just need new blood and perspective to reclaim their postseason glory. As Tomlin evaluates his next steps, the answer to this question will define his future—and the franchise’s direction in 2025.

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