There are no automatic wins in the NFL, but the Steelers playing on Monday night is as close as it gets.
Amazingly, the Steelers have won 23 straight Monday night home games, a streak dating to 1991. The Steelers (7-6) will try to continue that streak when they host the Miami Dolphins (6-7) at Acrisure Stadium.
The Steelers lost at home on a Monday in 2020 to Washington. However, that game started in the late afternoon after being postponed the previous day because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the Monday night streak is only one of the storylines for this game. Another is that both coaches, the Dolphins’ Mike McDonald and the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin, have had the heat turned off them with recent wins.
The Dolphins are on a four-game winning streak and have won five of their last six games since beginning the season 1-6. The hot streak has enabled McDonald to retain his job following speculation that he would be fired.
The Steelers had lost five of their previous seven games before beating the Ravens 27-22 last week in Baltimore in a showdown for sole possession of the AFC North lead. Tomlin’s job was never in jeopardy, but the home fans were chanting for his firing in the final minutes of the Steelers’ 26-7 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Nov. 30.
Tomlin was asked during his weekly press conference last Tuesday if he felt he was off the hot seat.
“I feel like I’ve been on the hot seat for 19 years,” said Tomlin, who was hired prior to the 2007 season to replace the retiring Bill Cowher. “I always feel like I got something to prove. Not necessarily to anyone in particular. That’s just in which I go about what I do professionally.”
Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has a 4-2 career record against the Dolphins. He last faced them in the final game of last season with the New York Jets, throwing for 274 yards and four touchdowns in a 32-20 win.
Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward will make his 190th career start, tying him with Hines Ward for fourth in franchise history. Heyward’s 225 games played are second in Steelers’ history behind Ben Roethlisberger (249).