Why the Mike Tomlin Era Should End

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is in this 19th season on his first ever head coaching job and while he is well known for never having a team with a losing record and he owns a Super Bowl ring after leading the Steelers to a victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII, his tenure on the sidelines may be coming to an end in 2025.

Tomlin has been scrutinized repeatedly for the last several years and that is due mostly to the fact that his team has not won a playoff game since 2015. With six straight first round losses, it is understandable why Steelers fans are frustrated. Black and Gold fans are spoiled knowing there have been five other Super Bowl champions before Tomlin’s victory in Tampa years ago.

So, with Steelers Nation expecting a winner, Steelers owner Art Rooney II, General Manager Omar Khan, and Tomlin vowed to break the streak in 2025 by revamping the defense with some proven veteran players and then getting the icing on the cake by bringing in future hall of fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Tomlin went public to say the defense had a chance to be “special” and he relied on Rodgers’ legacy to get Pittsburgh back into the postseason and then winning at least one game.

Thus far the 2025 experiment is failing. Pittsburgh blew a chance to build on a 4-1 start to the season and take advantage of the Baltimore Ravens’ disastrous 1-5 beginning. If the Steelers fail to get to the playoffs or if they get there and lose another opening game, the blame will be directly on Mike Tomlin. It would be bad to lose another playoff game and be knocked out one week after the season ends, but worse if the Steelers fail to make it there at all.

The Steelers and their owners, the Rooney family, are respected for not firing coaches. In fact, there have only been three head coaches since 1969, just three men hired in 46 years. That is incredible. While other NFL teams have hired and fired in some cases four times or more in that period, Pittsburgh has had just three. Chuck Noll hired in 1969, Bill Cowher came onboard in 1992, and then Tomlin in 2007. Noll won four Super Bowls. Bill Cowher one and as mentioned Tomlin has one for a total of six Lombardi’s the most in Super Bowl history tied with the New England Patriots.

Chuck Noll retired on his own terms. Bill Cowher the same. Then it came down to who would replace the “Chin.” Russ Grimm and Ken Whisenhunt were candidates with Grimm being one of the greatest offensive lineman in history and had been the assistant head coach with the Steelers. Whisenhunt was the offensive coordinator and then there was Tomlin who was defensive coordinator in Minnesota. The Rooney’s were impressed with Tomlin’s acumen regarding football. Tomlin built the reputation of being a defensive guru and thus given his young age and knowledge of the game, he got the job.

Now 19 years later and never having a losing season, the lack of playoff victories is wearing down Steelers fans and Art Rooney II appeared frustrated after last season’s quick exit from the postseason. So, let us look at how Noll and Cowher both stayed onboard as long as they did and never experienced any heat regarding their job.

Chuck Noll had the longest tenure of all three (unless Tomlin returns for four more seasons) with 23 years as head coach. Cowher was on the sidelines for 15. Not only was Chuck Noll the head coach of four NFL championship teams, but he also won the 1989 Greasy Neale Award, was a two-time Professional Football Writer’s Association Coach of the Year, and in 1972 was the United Press International Coach of the Year.

In looking back at just Cowher and Tomlin’s careers and more specifically just the last six playoff appearances for each since Tomlin’s team has not won a single game in this last five, the stats are revealing. In 2017, the Steelers had advanced after the opening round only to lose to the New England Patriots. Since then, Tomlin has lost every playoff game he had the team playing in.

Those six straight losses came to New England, Jacksonville, Cleveland, Kansas City, Buffalo, and Baltimore. In those six losses, the Steelers were outscored in the first quarter alone 73-0. Overall, opponents scored 230 points to Pittsburgh’s 148 with the second quarter also being a disaster as the defense gave up 70 points and the offense could only score 47.

Pittsburgh outscored these teams in the third quarter, 57-47, and I the fourth as well 57-47 but that is due to desperation points. Of those six Tomlin losses only the Jaguars game in January 2018 was close and it was a shootout as Pittsburgh lost 45-42. The Steelers did lose only by 11 to the Browns in 2021 but gave up 48 in the process. Kansas City put up 42 points, the Bills 31, and that Patriots team saw the Pittsburgh defense allowing 36 points to be scored.

On the other hand, we have Bill Cowher who in his final six playoff appearances had the Steelers playing in 10 games of which they split with five wins and five losses. The scores for Cowher’s teams were significantly different from the results Tomlin achieved. In the first quarter of those 10 games Pittsburgh was outscored by only eight points (59-47). The Steelers were strong in the fourth quarter of those games outscoring opponents 85-35 and probably so because they had to come from behind.

Not once in those last six seasons did Cowher see his team get knocked out in the first game they played. If you go back to the last seven playoff appearances a Cowher coached team was in the playoffs, Pittsburgh was coming off a Super Bowl loss in 1996 and then advanced a season later after beating up on the Indianapolis Colts 42-14 only to lose to Cowher’s arch nemesis New England 28-3.

In Cowher’s final six playoff appearances the Steelers were even on points with their opponents scoring 228 and giving up 228. Mike Tomlin has made the Super Bowl twice and like Cowher, won one and lost one. However, his one Super Bowl victory came shortly after he took over for Cowher and thus he had most of the players Bill Cowher was responsible for bringing to the team.

So after Chuck Noll won four Super Bowls in six seasons and Bill Cowher won another with both those coaches consistently putting up serious playoff contending teams, anyone should be able to understand the current frustration of Steelers Nation in the team not being able to win a playoff game and not since 2016 have they done so. We wonder how much longer this drought can go on?

This season has three games to go; and last Monday night the Steelers dominated the Miami Dolphins on national television to move to a record of 8-6 and give themselves some breathing room ahead of the second place Baltimore Ravens 7-7. It is my belief that Tomlin will have to either win the division or sneak in as a wild card into the playoffs and then win that elusive first game. If he fails to do so, it is time for a change.