The Pittsburgh Steelers were eliminated from the 2024 NFL Playoffs by the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round. Pittsburgh barely made the field as the No. 7 seed and was missing T.J. Watt due to an injury. They lost 31-17 and have still not won a playoff game since 2016. Head coach Mike Tomlin has been in his position since 2007, and the 2008 Super Bowl victory is getting further and further away. Is it time for Pittsburgh to rip the band-aid off and finally move on from the NFL’s currently longest-tenured head coach?
Tomlin has one year left on his contract, which means that if he specifically wanted out, he would be limited in his options. He would either need to take a year off like Sean Payton did with New Orleans, or Pittsburgh could trade him to another franchise. If Tomlin wanted to return, but the front office wanted to move on, they would be able to trade or fire him.
Tomlin is a weird case. If you are a fan of the Steelers, you might hope he moves on because your expectation is a Super Bowl ring every season. If you aren’t a Steelers fan, you are looking at a coach who has never had a losing season and probably wondering why on Earth Pittsburgh fans are even complaining.
No playoff wins in the last seven years over four trips is tough, but it still feels like Tomlin is getting the most he can out of his teams. You can argue that it is the front office that is the entity to blame for the lack of dominant playmakers on offense. The team hasn’t had a consistent quarterback since Ben Roethlisberger in 2020, and it seems like first-round pick Kenny Pickett is looking like a bust. The Steelers are watching the Cleveland Browns trade for Deshaun Watson (who hasn’t panned out yet), the Cincinnati Bengals draft Joe Burrow, and the Baltimore Ravens draft Lamar Jackson. Pittsburgh played Mason Rudolph for its final four games of the season. One of those things is not like the other.
The Steelers are in a bind because the fan base expects Super Bowls and doesn’t want to consider a down season where they rebuild. But if Pittsburgh moves on from Tomlin, there is likely not a coach on the market that could come in Year 1 and take this roster to the playoffs. Tomlin is under contract for one more season, and he should be retained for that season as the front office actually makes moves to bring in more talent on offense and spends a little money. Will they? Probably not, but regardless, Tomlin will likely be given one more ride to try and take a roster that shouldn’t win more than eight games and be expected to hoist a Lombardi yet again. Unless Pittsburgh wins the Super Bowl next year, I’d think that they will conduct a coaching search in the 2025 offseason.