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Brooke Pryor
THE FIRST CHANTS calling for coach Mike Tomlin’s job began with 10 minutes and 16 seconds left within the fourth quarter of the Week 13 loss to the Buffalo Payments, as Kenneth Gainwell‘s 2-yard loss on fourth down despatched the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ offense jogging off the house subject after yet one more fruitless possession.
Seven days later, the 53-year-old coach blew a kiss to the digicam within the wake of a 27-22 Week 14 victory as a Baltimore crowd, discontent with its personal coach, silently streamed out of M&T Financial institution Stadium.
Although Pittsburgh (7-6) enters Monday night time’s recreation towards the Miami Dolphins (8:20 ET, ESPN) atop the AFC North standings and returns to the identical house subject the place these chants occurred, it has been that sort of roller-coaster season for Tomlin and the Steelers — at the least on the skin.
Internally, nonetheless, a number of gamers, coaches and staffers describe a gradual, regular operation, the sort that has been in place over the previous 19 years with Tomlin on the helm.
“There is not any panic within the constructing,” one supply informed ESPN NFL insider Jeremy Fowler. “That is how weeks like [Week 14] repay. The folks there [including owner Art Rooney II] aren’t on social media. It is businesslike there. Mike identifies what the issue is, and he digs into the movie together with his workers to repair it. It is actually that easy.”
“I perceive my position as a pacesetter to be what my guys want me to be,” Tomlin mentioned days after beating the Ravens. “And positively if you’re coming off a destructive efficiency, they want stability and perception.”
And it is that very same stability created by routine and transparency that has endeared Tomlin to tons of of gamers and stored him entrenched in a corporation that mirrors the values of its head coach.
“It is a very knee-jerk response league the place in the event you’re not successful, you are out,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who has a novel perspective from his time in Inexperienced Bay and with the New York Jets, mentioned this week. “And so they’ve received right here for a very long time. There’s been some 8-8 seasons as properly, however — does not look like it from afar — there wasn’t any, ‘We needed to make wholesale modifications.’
“I am a agency believer that in the event you select the proper folks to guide, and you’ve got the proper course of, you do not have to make modifications. … As a result of for probably the most half, it results in rebuilding or dysfunction that may sort of break a few of the foundational traits of successful organizations just like the Steelers are.”
However whereas that stability is seen as an asset contained in the constructing, it is also a serious contributor to the fan angst that audibly boiled over two weeks in the past. Followers did not simply chant “Fireplace Tomlin” as a result of they had been annoyed with their staff’s place within the recreation; they had been annoyed with the staff’s seemingly unchanged place within the NFL over the previous decade.
Although he has by no means had a dropping season and received Tremendous Bowl XLIII in his second season in 2008, Tomlin hasn’t received a playoff recreation since beating an Alex Smith-led Kansas Metropolis Chiefs staff within the divisional spherical of the 2016 playoffs. Per week later, the Steelers obtained blown out by the New England Patriots within the AFC Championship Recreation. The Steelers have not come near a convention championship weekend since. As an alternative, they had been one-and-done in 5 postseason appearances over the previous eight seasons, they usually had been outscored 101-52 of their previous three wild-card losses.
“Individuals all the time need change, and never see it via or they’re simply executed with it,” mentioned Ramon Foster, a former Steelers offensive lineman who began 145 video games for Tomlin from 2009 to 2019. “I get it. It is the identical tune and the identical spot on the dance flooring, and you’re employed a gap within the floor, so you’re feeling such as you want a complete new home. And possibly it is simply the flooring you should refurbish. [Change] could also be good for Coach Tomlin, however I do not know if it is good for the Steelers and the followers and the town. Coaches like him do not simply develop from underneath the subsequent coaches’ tree.”
Because the group nears 15 years since its final Tremendous Bowl look — coincidentally a loss to a Rodgers-led Packers staff — and 17 years since Tomlin added the franchise’s sixth Lombardi Trophy to the case, fan unrest has seemingly by no means been larger. Outstanding former gamers have publicly speculated that it may be time for Tomlin to maneuver on. And but, with Tomlin nonetheless underneath contract via at the least the 2026 season with a membership choice resolution on 2027 due early subsequent yr, there’s nothing to counsel the group with simply three head coaches since 1969 will break from precedent and transfer on from its head coach, irrespective of how loud the skin noise will get.
“To be blunt, we do not care in any respect,” Steelers extensive receiver Calvin Austin III mentioned. “We’re all the time behind Coach T. The entire world may very well be chanting ‘Fireplace Coach T,’ and we will be with Coach T. On the finish of the day, that is all that issues. The gamers on this locker room, we’re behind him.”
ONLY TWO ACTIVE Steelers gamers have received playoff video games underneath Tomlin: Cameron Heyward and Chris Boswell.
Since that 2016 divisional win, the Steelers have a number of notable common seasons with no playoff success to indicate for it. In 2017, Antonio Brown led the league in receiving yards because the protection ranked fifth in yards allowed (306.9) and the offense ranked third in whole yards (377.9). But the Steelers had been surprised by the Jacksonville Jaguars in a wild-card shootout. A yr later, Ben Roethlisberger led the league in passing yards (5,129) and the protection led the league with 52 sacks. However the Steelers completed 9-6 as Le’Veon Bell held out the whole season and Brown imploded.
“Successful a championship is as onerous as hell,” mentioned Foster, who performed in eight playoff video games after dropping in Tremendous Bowl XLV. “I went in my second yr, and after that recreation when the confetti was flowing and I used to be going to the dropping locker room, I mentioned, ‘I will be again.’ I by no means went again. … It ain’t as simple because it appears.”
The seven years of playoff futility because the loss to the Jaguars have largely been marked by outstanding defenses and inconsistency at quarterback: Roethlisberger’s season-ending proper elbow harm, his return after which retirement, first-rounder Kenny Pickett‘s disappointing tenure, and the failed Russell Wilson and Justin Fields experiments.
Tomlin’s messaging and drive, although, had been constants.
“I do not know in the event you’ll discover a extra pure soccer coach when it comes right down to understanding what’s at job, what the duties are, and pushing us gamers to do it,” Foster mentioned. “… He by no means undersold anyone. Does every coach have their flaws? Completely. And Coach T has his too, however the intent on his objectives all the time remained the identical, and that is successful a rattling Tremendous Bowl.”
This offseason, in a cost led by Tomlin and normal supervisor Omar Khan, the Steelers courted and finally landed Rodgers in a bid to vary their postseason fortunes. The sometimes conservative group additionally made uncharacteristic strikes, spending cash and draft picks to land extensive receiver DK Metcalf and noteworthy, but ageing, defensive gamers in defensive again Jalen Ramsey and cornerback Darius Slay.
The protection, one Tomlin boasted may very well be able to “historic issues” throughout a coaching camp radio interview, fell woefully in need of expectations because the 2025 season opened. Even so, the Rodgers-led offense put up sufficient factors to assist the Steelers to a 4-1 begin.
And the protection Tomlin handpicked to match up with Cincinnati Bengals receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins surrendered 33 factors to a Joe Flacco-led offense in a Thursday night time Week 7 loss. Ten days later, in one other prime-time recreation, the unit gave up 35 factors in a loss to the Inexperienced Bay Packers at Acrisure Stadium.
Simply because the unit began to indicate enchancment, Rodgers started to look each little bit of his 41 years with a dismal efficiency in a Sunday night time Week 10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Per week later he fractured his left wrist towards the Bengals and was on the sideline for the Week 12 loss to the Chicago Bears. He was ineffective in his return towards the Payments, prompting boobirds earlier than these fourth-quarter “Fireplace Tomlin” chants. Following the loss to the Payments, former gamers together with Roethlisberger and move rusher James Harrison advised the group ought to think about transferring on from Tomlin.
“Perhaps it is a clean-house time. Perhaps it is time,” Roethlisberger mentioned on his “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger” podcast. “I like Coach Tomlin. I’ve plenty of respect for Coach Tomlin, however possibly it is best for him, too.”
And Harrison, who performed underneath Tomlin for components of 10 seasons in Pittsburgh, mentioned that “one thing needs to be executed.”
“I’ve by no means been an individual that thought Coach Tomlin was an excellent coach,” Harrison mentioned on his “Deebo and Joe” podcast. “I believed he was [coach]. … A great coach will get you to play to your potential. And proper now, the gamers we’ve got on that staff I’ve seen play; they are not enjoying as much as their potential. A terrific coach will get you to play to your potential.”
Present gamers, although, downplayed the phrases of the previous Steeler greats.
“I do not fear about anyone who’s not within the locker room,” Heyward mentioned. “It is not a dis at them. I believe we simply obtained to fret concerning the guys in right here and focus on the job at hand. There’s plenty of soccer to be performed. Not working from that. Our job, we obtained to reply for it. Hold it transferring.”
Now, although, the Steelers enter Monday night time’s recreation coming off a important win towards the Ravens wherein Rodgers put collectively his finest recreation of the season and the protection made well timed, splash performs that atoned for inconsistency within the run protection.
“He did not get out of character and say, ‘Oh, the sky is falling and we’ve got to behave fully completely different,’” mentioned Heyward of Tomlin’s message main as much as the win towards the Ravens. “Our message is similar. Get higher. Personal your errors.
“All people talks about what Tomlin must do. It is what the gamers should do. I believe it begins with our management. We personal our errors. Once we lose, we take it the worst. It should not be Coach Tomlin.
“Gamers play, coaches coach.”
DESPITE AN INCREASINGLY stressed fan base determined to interrupt an eight-year playoff win drought and Tomlin’s assertion earlier this week that he has been on the “sizzling seat for 19 years,” the historical past of the Steelers group and the Rooney household suggests Tomlin is not going wherever — until he is on board with a mutual separation.
5 months after a wild-card loss to the Payments, Tomlin signed a three-year extension, tying him to the group via the 2027 season. The ultimate season is a membership choice, sources informed ESPN’s Adam Schefter, with a call due on that by March 1, 2026. The choice yr, although, has been a function of Tomlin’s earlier contracts. Prior to now, one supply informed ESPN, the staff has sometimes picked up the choice. On this case, if the Steelers do not choose up the choice and Tomlin has success in 2026, the staff would nonetheless “more than likely” prolong him, the supply mentioned.
The Steelers have had simply three head coaches since 1969 — the fewest variety of head coaches in that span of any franchise throughout the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL. The Steelers’ earlier two head coaches left on their very own phrases, as each Invoice Cowher and Chuck Noll opted for retirement after prolonged runs with the staff.
The Rooney household final fired a head coach in 1968, dismissing Invoice Austin after three seasons when he received simply two video games in 1968. Even then, Artwork Rooney, who was in control of the group on the time, was reluctant to fireplace Austin as a result of Austin obtained alongside so properly with these within the franchise.
“The one downside that we have had is that we did not win sufficient ball video games,” Artwork Rooney Sr. mentioned on the time. Till the group discovered stability starting with Noll’s rent in 1969, the Steelers went via 15 teaching modifications starting with the group’s inception in 1933.
Noll led the Steelers for 23 seasons earlier than asserting his retirement in December 1991. He reworked a staff that went 1-13 in his first season in 1969 to a four-time Tremendous Bowl-winning staff within the Seventies. However he completed his tenure with only one playoff berth and 4 dropping seasons in his closing seven seasons. His final playoff win got here within the 1989 wild-card spherical in an additional time victory towards the Houston Oilers.
Following a 5-11 season and last-place end within the division in 1988, Noll fired 4 assistants, and then-defensive coordinator Tony Dungy resigned. On the time, Dan Rooney, who took over because the staff president in 1975, reaffirmed his religion in his longtime head coach.
“I’m happy that Chuck Noll will proceed as our head coach and stay with the Steelers till he retires from soccer,” he mentioned in a ready assertion in January 1989. “He has executed an excellent job for the Steelers and has represented the town properly. I’ve a lot confidence in his capacity to guide this staff again to the highest.”
Regardless of fan restlessness as Noll went 16-16 in his closing two seasons, the Rooney household allowed the coach to depart on his personal phrases after greater than 20 years of unprecedented success and repair to the group.
“The tip has to come back someday for everybody,” Noll mentioned on the time. “For me, that is it. That is when it occurred.”
Till his retirement, Noll had the longest uninterrupted tenure of any lively head coach or supervisor in professional soccer, baseball, basketball or hockey. Earlier this yr, Tomlin grew to become the longest-tenured lively head coach of the 4 U.S. professional sports activities leagues when the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich retired.
“If there’s one factor athletes, in my private opinion, do not like, it is instability,” Foster mentioned. “And in the event you’re altering coaches and altering the messaging time and time once more, you end up virtually in simply sports activities purgatory.”
Cowher, who succeeded Noll, stepped down after 15 seasons on the helm of the Steelers franchise, citing a need to spend extra time together with his household. He by no means coached once more.
Lower than a yr earlier than he introduced his resignation, Cowher lifted the Lombardi Trophy as confetti fell at Detroit’s Ford Discipline. However he adopted the Tremendous Bowl XL title with an 8-8 season in 2006 and missed the playoffs for the fifth time in his tenure as coach. Along with successful eight division titles and two AFC championships, he additionally had two one-and-done exits within the playoffs (1992, 1993) and 4 house losses in AFC title video games.
“We have had some disappointments, and I really feel dangerous about that,” Cowher mentioned in his resignation information convention, “however that was the gas that introduced me again.”
Tomlin, too, is wired that method. It is what retains him going.
“It is by no means been about survival for Coach Tomlin,” Foster mentioned. “It has all the time been about getting a Tremendous Bowl trophy. I really feel the human aspect of a man like him — and he’ll by no means say it or admit it, particularly publicly say it — however being faraway from Coach Cowher’s gamers, to be his personal staff, together with his personal GM, together with his personal quarterback, together with his personal coaches is I believe one thing that each coach wishes to do. And that is simply the best way he is all the time approached it with us — is he desires the most effective for us as folks, gamers, and as a staff.”
FACING QUESTIONS A yr in the past after Tomlin’s fifth consecutive one-and-done playoff look, staff president Artwork Rooney II pointed to the coach’s observe report of success — together with by no means having a dropping season — as the rationale Tomlin continues to be the proper particular person for the job.
Tomlin’s report is 190-113-2, and he has received 19 playoff video games. He is simply 4 victories from eclipsing Noll’s franchise-leading 193 wins.
“If you take a look at what number of video games Mike has received on this league, you do not win that many video games in the event you’re not coach,” Rooney mentioned in January. “And I do know he is annoyed, like all of us are, simply not having the ability to take that subsequent step. However we nonetheless be ok with him being a pacesetter and nonetheless suppose he has the strengths that he all the time had by way of having the ability to lead a staff.
“On the opposite aspect of the coin, you take a look at the truth that we’ve got six, seven, eight groups a yr that flip their coaches over. It is by no means technique.”
The opposite aspect of the coin may very well be on the alternative sideline Monday night time. Although Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel stays in place for now, Miami proprietor Stephen Ross fired normal supervisor Chris Grier in what was formally described as a “mutual parting of the way” earlier this season amid a 2-7 begin. Since two-time Tremendous Bowl champ Don Shula retired following the 1995 season, the Dolphins have cycled via 12 head coaches. Within the 30 years since Shula, the Dolphins have had simply three playoff wins in 9 berths together with 12 dropping seasons. Defensive again Jalen Ramsey, who spent a season and a half with the Dolphins earlier than being traded to the Steelers over the summer time, understands the problem of successful within the postseason greater than most. Although he received Tremendous Bowl LVI with the Los Angeles Rams, he has been a part of simply 4 playoff groups in 9 earlier seasons, together with as soon as with the Dolphins. “That is my tenth yr within the league,” Ramsey mentioned. “I have been to the playoffs, possibly three, 4 occasions. Solely had playoff wins, possibly twice? It is powerful. It is the NFL. Any kind of success you will get, although, you cling on to it. Me, personally, I believed the chants had been bulls—. That is comical in my thoughts.” Thus far, the Rooneys have seemingly shared Ramsey’s sentiments, opting to cling to Tomlin’s previous success with the idea it’ll proceed sooner or later relatively than pivot to the unknown — irrespective of how loud the noise will get. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler contributed to this story.
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