Less than a day after a playoff loss to the Houston Texans, Mike Tomlin ended his tenure as coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“After much thought and reflection, I have decided to step down as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Tomlin said via a statement issued by the organization.
If we are to go off what Tomlin told us following the Houston game, most of that reflection must’ve occurred between the hours of roughly midnight and 2 p.m. Tuesday. That’s when ESPN broke news of Tomlin’s departure.
Because in the moments after the Steelers’ 30-6 defeat, Tomlin was asked about his future and acted as if he had yet to ponder anything of the sort.
“I’m not even in that mindset as I sit here,” Tomlin said. “I’m more in the mindset of what transpired in this stadium and certainly what we did and didn’t do. Not a big-picture mentality as I sit here.”
I’m sure most of you are dubious of the idea that somewhere between driving away from Acrisure Stadium late Monday night and driving to UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on Tuesday that Tomlin had a magical epiphany that 19 years on the job here was enough.
As if a subconscious lightning bolt in a dream during his postgame slumber woke him up, and it was at that moment Tomlin realized that chasing a playoff victory for a 10th consecutive year wasn’t worthwhile.
Indeed! Why not go out after 19 years instead of 20?
Who cares about breaking Chuck Noll’s regular-season coaching wins record? Hang ’em up while they are tied at 193.
Sure. Let’s play along with that.
The more pragmatic answer is that Tomlin could’ve wanted his option for 2027 picked up, and team president Art Rooney II didn’t want to do that.
That’s more plausible.
But I’m not sold on that either. I see Rooney firmly in Tomlin’s corner after a 10-7 season and a division championship.
I’ve always thought Rooney would need multiple losing seasons in a row from Tomlin before forcing him out. Tomlin never even posted one.
So what was it that washed over Tomlin? What hit him that made him go from that answer late Monday to signing his letter of resignation just after lunch the next day?
The most likely explanation is Tomlin may believe his first losing season is coming next year, or that 2026 simply ain’t getting any better than 10-7 and another first-round playoff exit.
I’m not saying he is quitting to protect his fabled, career-long “never had a losing season” streak. I’m saying he might finally be having that personal acknowledgment that so many others in Pittsburgh have had over this nine-year postseason win drought — he isn’t capable of fixing this anytime soon.
To be clear, when fans and media members say that, we’ve meant it as a criticism.
Tomlin is probably just now looking at the puzzle and realizing how many pieces he still needs to solve it.
It’s entirely possible Tomlin already knows that quarterback Aaron Rodgers isn’t returning. Or, if Rodgers is unsure, Tomlin doesn’t want to go through that waiting process again.
Tomlin may also be understanding that they invested too much in DK Metcalf and an aging T.J. Watt. He could be grasping that Broderick Jones is a first-round miss and that both of his running backs are good but not great.
He may be fatigued from endlessly trying to get the inside linebacker position right and constantly searching for a second wide receiver.
That’s to say nothing of rebooting yet another QB hunt if Rodgers heads off to the darkness retreat of retirement — with no readily available answers in the draft, trade landscape or free agency.
What I’m saying is, Tomlin probably understands that what has been mediocre is on the verge of sinking to bad, and he doesn’t want to be the steward of that ship as it runs aground.
It is possible that the beatdown from the Texans was his wake-up call. Or, more likely, he’s been thinking about that for a while.
Tomlin has never wanted to fully rebuild, but the Steelers may not have enough left to reload.
If Tomlin was optimistic about what the 2026 team could become, he’d come back for a 20th year. If he felt the materials were in place for this club to really contend for a title, he’d come back.
Well, unless it’s back to the contract issue.
As it turns out, I was the one who asked Tomlin the final question of his Pittsburgh Steelers coaching career. After multiple examples of him saying he didn’t want to answer “big picture” questions so soon after a season-ending loss, I asked Tomlin if it was “too big picture to ask” if the organization has enough of a foundation to make progress for next year.
“I always feel optimistic about what we’re capable of doing in terms of putting together a group, certainly,” Tomlin insisted.
Based on what happened 14 hours later, I have a hard time buying that.
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LISTEN: Tim Benz and Joe Rutter discuss Mike Tomlin’s exit as Steelers coach.