The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t formally fired a coach in more than a half century. If the angry fans at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday had their way, that would change.
A robust “Fire Tomlin” chant was recited during the fourth quarter of a game that the Buffalo Bills won 26-7 against the Steelers. The Steelers dropped to 6-6 after losing for the fifth time in their past seven games, and dissatisfaction with 19-year coach Mike Tomlin is boiling over.
“Man, I share their frustration tonight,” Tomlin said after the game when asked about the chants. “We didn’t do enough. That’s just the reality of it.”
Tomlin is 11th in NFL history in regular-season wins with 189, but his ballyhooed streak of non-losing seasons might be in jeopardy. So are the 2025 Steelers’ playoff hopes, though they remain tied for first place with the Baltimore Ravens in what is a poor AFC North.
The Steelers led 7-3 at halftime Sunday but quickly saw that evaporate. Things got so bad that fans booed the popular “Renegade” pump-up video played during the fourth quarter of every game.
“It’s disheartening that we’re not putting a product on the field that fans are proud of,” tight end Pat Freiermuth said. “I get their frustration. We have to be better on the field for them to buy in.”
Though the 53-year-old Tomlin is on a Hall of Fame trajectory, the Steelers have not won a playoff game since the 2016 season. They have finished better than 10-7 just once since 2017.
Tomlin, the NFL’s longest-tenured head coach with one team, increasingly has become a lightning rod for a fanbase irked by a run of slightly above-average seasons with no real legitimate Super Bowl-contending teams since (arguably) 2017.
“We aren’t meeting the standard,” receiver Calvin Austin III said. “This team has a standard that, when it takes the field, fans are expecting to see a certain thing, and it’s our duty to provide that. It’s as simple as that. As fans, they come here to cheer us on and support us, but we’re not giving them anything to cheer about.”
Since the Steelers fired Bill Austin at the conclusion of a 2-11-1 season in 1968, they have had only three coaches: Chuck Noll (1969-1991), Bill Cowher (1992-2006) and Tomlin. Each has won a Super Bowl.
Tomlin guided the Steelers to one for the 2008 season, and his team won the AFC championship two years later. Since, however, they have just three playoff wins. Over their last six playoff games — all losses — the Steelers have been outscored a combined 73-0 in the first quarter.
The accumulation of that disappointment no doubt bled over into the chants directed at Tomlin on Sunday.
“The crowd can do what they want,” longtime Steelers defensive captain Cameron Heyward said. “We have a job to do, and we have to do it well enough.”
Like Tomlin, Aaron Rodgers has been one of the NFL’s most recognizable figures going on two decades. Rodgers — a 21-year veteran quarterback — is a legend in Green Bay, where he won four NFL MVP awards while playing for the Packers.
But even Rodgers recalled getting booed at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field at certain points over the years.
“(Fans) pay money for a ticket, so they have the right — good, bad, or indifferent — to say what they want,” Rodgers said. “I totally understand the frustration.”
Rodgers, who turns 42 this week and is in his first season with the Steelers, carries a measured perspective. He did not appreciate a question from a reporter in reference to the struggling Steelers offense and whether it was well-prepared for what the Bills showed on defense Sunday.
Rodgers apparently took it as a veiled shot at Tomlin and grasped the opportunity to defend him.
“I know what you’re trying to ask, and I’m not going to go down that road at all,” Rodgers said. “I believe in the coaching staff. I believe in Mike Tomlin. That’s why I came here. Players need to take accountability, myself included, and I will. I will continue to.
“I’ve got to play better. But there’s 11 starters on offense, 11 on defense plus with the personnel groupings that we run. We’ve got Monday to Saturday, and we can be really proud of our best Monday to Saturday and go out and play our best game and take control of the division.”