Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin made a shocking choice on his future following their Wild Card exit.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are almost synonymous with Mike Tomlin after he’s been ahead of the organization as head coach for 19 seasons. He’s never coached a losing season with the Steelers. However, the last few years of his career in Pittsburgh have been spelled by disappointing early playoff exits, with their last playoff win taking place in 2016. Their season ended on Monday night with a 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans in the AFC Wild Card round, adding another consecutive postseason loss. Despite two years remaining on his contract, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, Mike Tomlin made the stunning decision to step down and walk away from the team.
He made the decision and informed the team during their 2 p.m. ET meeting Tuesday, not 24 hours after their playoff exit. The 53-year-old Tomlin will leave with 19 winning seasons and 200 career victories. The Steelers will look for their fourth head coach since 1969 – an astonishing run of stability under head coaches. As Tomlin resigned while still under contract, the team will retain his coaching rights and could receive compensation should he join another team before his contract is up at the end of the 2027 season.
Here is the full story from Steelers Roundtable writer Matthew Schmidt on the shocking shakeup by Tomlin and what’s next for Pittsburgh.
Tomlin took the job in 2007 and has a 193-114-2 career record with the Steelers. He led them to a Super Bowl victory in his second season. Overall, he took Pittsburgh to two Super Bowls with one championship, eight AFC North titles, and 13 playoff appearances. But things were rockier this season, and it looked like Tomlin’s future in Pittsburgh was up in the air. Tomlin left things on his terms.