As speculation regarding the 2024 coaching cycle continues to heat up, Mike Tomlin‘s name has been mentioned amidst questions with respect to his job security. A recent report indicated the Steelers were not interested in making a change on the sidelines, though, and further signs continue to point that way. 
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports the Steelers “have no desire” to move on from Tomlin, adding that they “have no reason to think” the 51-year-old is interested in anything other than continuing his tenure in Pittsburgh. Tomlin is currently under contract through 2024, after the team did not repeat its pattern of agreeing to two-year extensions every other season to avoid lame duck situations.
Florio notes the Steelers plan to extend Tomlin before the start of the 2024 campaign, a move which would keep him on the books for years to come. He adds that the former Super Bowl winner has already been “directly involved” with roster decisions affecting 2024 and ’25, another sign of his continued commitment to the organization. Tomlin has come under fire this season in particular with offensive struggles being a consistent issue.
That resulted in the mid-season firing of offensive coordinator Matt Canada, although interim replacement Mike Sullivan is not expected to have a chance to earn the full-time role. At least one signficant change will therefore take place in the near future, and a number of major decisions (such as the viability of Kenny Pickett as a long-term answer at the QB position) will need to be made this offseason. Tomlin appears set to be at the heart of that process.
Pittsburgh has famously never had a losing record during his tenure, something which is at risk in his 17th season at the helm. The Steelers enter today’s contest on a three-game losing streak dropping them to 7-7 on the year and putting them in danger of missing the postseason. Failing to win a playoff game this year would extend the team’s drought in that regard (which dates back to 2016) even further.
Three coaching vacancies are in place at the moment (Raiders, Panthers, Chargers) and Florio adds that trade interest for Tomlin could exist depending on how the 2024 hiring cycle plays out. If he and the Steelers have their way, however, their relationship will continue into the future.
Good. Now give the excellent HC resources needed to run a better football team…
Tomlin has been a steelers head coach for a long time. I can promise you that he has a hand in the resources you speak of. He let Arians and Labeau go. He hired Canada. What makes you think Tomlin will do things differently? I’m not a big Tomlin fan, but I could live with him if coaching hires are done by the front office.
Didn’t Lebeau retire? Guy was ancient, yes a legend but he couldn’t coach forever maybe he could have a Tom Moore like staff position. Bruce was getting a HC spot he wasn’t going to stay.
Lebeau went on to coach several more years and had some pretty good defenses with the Bengals. Arians at the time of his departure from Pittsburgh, had no head coaching opportunities. Tomlin continually mismanages the clock as well as challenges. His players love him,but unfortunately discipline has become a problem. Hopefully it works out,but they need to higher qualified coordinators and not Tomlins buddies.
LeBeau “retired” (i.e. like Arians…forced out)
By all accounts, Rooney fired Arians. And thanks to the diva Roethlisberger, Haley was forced out
Laughable if you think the head coach had no input on the firing. Diva with a couple Super Bowls under his belt.
Never said he wasn’t a good QB but yeah, big time diva where Haley was concerned and deciding to shun Rudolph instead of mentoring because how dare the Steelers plan for life beyond his retirement.
What’s laughable are fanboys who somehow think their beloved QB walks on water
Not one the fanboys you speak of, and there’s only one guy that ever walked on water. Not a worshipper of Roethlisberger, just an admirer of his accomplishments.
Agreed. Wrong choice of words. Apologies
And I admire the accomplishments, too. Just not the human being
Roethlisberger is a mixed bag. He morphed from being a complement to a great defense to becoming the engine of the team as a whole. Off field controversy aside, he always said what he wanted to, and so did Haley. Haley himself wasn’t an easy person to get along with. Roethlisberger wasn’t the only person who had issues with him. The Steelers did, however, benefit immensely from their partnership while it lasted. It seemed like they could just pluck any receiver from the draft and make him a star, which was great while the defense underwent a lull before resurging in the late 2010s (coincidentally when the offense began to die…).
We can only speculate on who was responsible for what, but Haley did have a short and uneventful tenure as one in a series of bad Chiefs coaches before landing in Cleveland, where he was surprisingly passed over for the head coaching job and fired for Freddie Kitchens. This happened because Haley always rubbed people the wrong way, despite being a talented offensive schemer. LeBeau retired and unretired, so I don’t know who was responsible for that. Tomlin hasn’t been able to replace them or some other past greats, but I don’t know how possible that is in today’s NFL, either. Coordinators leave so quickly for head coaching jobs and players don’t stay long term very commonly, either. Could Pittsburgh have a LeBeau in today’s NFL? As for Roethlisberger…despite his propensity to speak out of turn at times, he also isn’t stupid, in my opinion. Sometimes he says what many are thinking themselves, but don’t have the perspective to do so. He himself sometimes could consider the perspectives of others more (Tomlin sees things differently than he does as the HC rather the QB), but the advantage is that Ben sees things in a way that the coach doesn’t. So there’s probably some value in that.
Ultimately, none of us know what goes on in that facility and who’s to blame for what decisions (even Ben, as he’s been gone for several years now), but it’s clear that, at a minimum, Pittsburgh needs to be aggressive in putting the right coordinators in place and that they need to be extra aggressive in improving the offensive line. Extending Tomlin might not be the worst, but there needs to be some sort of direction that the team’s discipline must be improved. The hands off approach is clearly not tenable with many of these young players, and there is a dearth of leadership to teach them otherwise on offense. Tomlin should be more hands on as a leader, especially with his coordinator now gone. The leadership needs to come from him. Otherwise, it will be more mediocrity.
I’d be disappointed if he wasn’t.
The Steelers are great at picking head coaches, man! Wish the Jets would learn a thing or two from them
Is this the right choice? Maybe. Will this go over about as well as a lead balloon or New Coke? Definitely.
Great coach and they tend to produce wrs. They need to work on their lines though, nothing they can really do about constant injuries. They have been through like 4-5 inside lbs
I’d say that Jones was a good first step in addressing the former, but that line has been an extremely significant hindrance since Roethlisberger’s final years. Canada was bad, of course, but he built his dink and dunk philosophy based off a line that wouldn’t give a QB more than two seconds to throw.
I’d say that the line has improved a good deal since Roethlisberger’s final years, but it’s still awful. It was just that bad when Canada began his offensive tenure, and he never adjusted to fit his subsequent players. Even if he had, the dearth of talent on the line would have impeded any offensive production anyway. The offense did look much better in the breath of time that Pickett started after Canada’s firing, particularly with Harris in the run game. Sadly, that was short lived. The Steelers really need to continue to build that offensive line, no matter who plays. It was their core in the 2010s, and was a huge loss heading into this decade.
Hello another decade of mediocrity for us Steeler fans.
The guy has been to two super bowls in his 17 years with the team. Mediocrity? I’ll take it then.
Excellence looks like “mediocrity” when are entitled to always win everything.
How dare they ever lose and do that to the loyal fans who deserve it all always.
Tomlin inherited a HOF QB when he was first hired. Not his fault that his next QB is not a long term starter. Give him a chance with more QB to show that he still has it. If that fails, then it’s time to move on.
right. All the steelers problems this year stem from horrible qb play. Just having an average qb, they would have at least 10 wins right now. Pickett is not the answer. We can blame Canada, but Pickett game after game has missed big play opportunities.
mike Tomlin makes me hate football.
oh yay a bounce-back game after making a total mess of everything..
this looks familiar.
can’t wait to get completely blown out when it matters most.
rinse repeat
there’s no point in analyzing the madhouse
can say all year to FOCUS THE OFFENSE ON GEORGE PICKENS, our version of Justin Jefferson.
but no Pickens sux, right?
steelers finally throw to Pickens in week 16 of the season and now Tomlin is some kind of genius
see Tomlin smart, you dumb.
Are you racist? Tomlin is a great coach get a grip on reality
3 playoff wins in the past 10 years
I lean more pro Tomlin than anti-Tomlin, but there are legitimate other reasons to be frustrated with him. I think the positive outweighs the negative personally, especially compared to the general average pool of coaches, but I do get why Steelers fans want significant improvement in certain areas.
Love that Rudolph is making passes neither of the two guys ahead of him could make.
Pickett will be ready next week and if his history of hard-headedness is any barometer, Tomlin will start him
Pickett’s not the answer. Trubisky is worse.
The jury is still out on what Picketts ceiling is. Trubisky is done. They need to let Pickett play this last game and if he falters, yank him and set up a QB competition next year with a legitimate chance to start to the winner. Maybe a trade for a Justin Fields in the off season for more competition.
23 games in and the jury’s still out?
Look, I liked Pickett at Pitt. I applauded him being drafted. And yeah, Canada was in over his head
But there was a reason they relegated him to dink and dunk passes, rarely deep balls and nothing over the middle. He’s not the answer
Rudolph is a guy who never got a fair shot here (read Madden’s column in The Trib) had one helluva training camp when the starting job was “open” two seasons back but still got the shaft
But hey, get Pickett back in there and lose two more
I’ve seen enough of Fields. The better OSU QB plays in Houston. This guy? No thanks
Still believe there’s some untapped talent in Pickett, but I definitely think he needs to beat out Rudolph or who ever else they bring in for the right to start.
I had this same feeling for the first 20 games or so but I’ve seen enough. Rudolph earned the right to start next week
I’m not sold on Rudolph, mind you. I watched him at OK St and can say he has a big arm. He’s had tunnel vision and slow feet as a pro and yet, he’s an upgrade over Pickett
The kid never got a fair shake here. Use the last two games to see if what happened tonight was representative of who he is as a QB. Then let them battle in camp
And Trubisky can pack his bags
I’ll say this, given what sound bites we’ve heard out of the locker room tonight. Sure seems like the players know who the best choice is and who’s gotten a raw deal
There may be untapped talent in Pickett…maybe he is an amazing piano player, could be an excellent writer, possibly a genius when it comes to small engine repair…but at this point he’s had his shot and he is definitely not a starting NFL Quarterback.
Justin Fields? Gosh if Pittsburgh fans want a coach fired that has never had a losing season in 17 years, why would they want a quarterback with a career 8-26 record?
I’d take Fields in a heart beat. Chicago is where QB’s go to die. You know what they say about opinions, they’re like a@# h@#$%, everyone has one.
Yes because the other ex Bears starting quarterback done so well in Pittsburgh. Are you sure that Pittsburgh isn’t the place that quarterbacks go to die?
You heard the TV announcer at the end of the game…one step closer to keeping the Mike Tomlin winning season streak alive. Is that really the new goal in Pittsburgh? Maybe I got spoiled growing up in the Steel Curtain era. Sometimes I forget Steelers supporters are supposed to act giddy about a winning season, playoff record aside, just like mediocre franchises that aren’t used to winning much.
Yeah, I agree. I know most franchises go through losing cycles for seasons and national media gives Tomlin for having a track record above all that. I get it
But there are so many holes here beginning with the O-line that the “standard being the standard” is going to entail .500 records and perhaps one-and-out playoff appearances for years to come unless there’s a new approach
“But, what do you mean when you say entitled?”
Steelers had a good run. The Cowboys and Steelers were always talked about in the same breath years ago and Dallas hasn’t won a Super Bowl in 27 years. The Yankees haven’t won a World Series in 16 years. What makes the Steelers any better?
Winning seasons with no playoffs weakens the draft class. That’s the consolation prize that Bills fans lived with for many years and it was horrible…
In my opinion Tomlin’s/Steelers winning streak isn’t the goal ever. The goal is always to win the Super Bowl. The streak is a reflection of the stability of the franchise that they keep their heads above water while rebuilding the roster to build the next championship caliber team.
They are currently in the process of reshaping the roster and as ugly as it looks they can still keep the streak alive by winning one of the two games left. I’m not expecting a Super Bowl type team in the next season or two but the fact that Jones, Porter and Benton have all held their own as rookies at areas of positional needs is a big step in the right direction. Given that both lines and the secondary are still major issues, if Khan can get a solid player at two of those three spots in the draft this year to pair with those guys and the pass rush of Watt and Highsmith then the medium/long term outlook of this team improves drastically.
If he finishes 9-8 he should eb coach of the year. So little talent and such poor offensive game planning and yet Tomlin is above. 500 again.
And yet he hired the guy that everyone wanted fired and stood idle for how many games, when everyone knew Canada was out of his league. Coach of the year is laughable. The dude is not a good in game manager. Doesn’t make the necessary adjustments, Doesn’t know when to throw a challenge flag. What’s his percentage of red flag wins since he’s been in the league? I’ll bet it’s near the bottom of the league. Time management is terrible. Constantly having to call time outs at ill advised times. His hiring of coaches is abysmal. I get it, his players love him, but unfortunately he doesn’t demand the respect he should be given. And now it’s showing, ie…..Pickens, Johnson. I’m a Steeler fan for over 50 yrs and was a big fan of Tomlin for years. His time has run its course.
Right decision he’s a good coach. Any Steelers fan who doesn’t agree are morons
A team that was picked to win between 5 and 9 games WITH their then ascendant second year QB is 8-7 with abysmal QB play for most of the year (not to mention injuries to their most important defensive players) BUT if the coach wasn’t a moron, they’d be Super Bowl bound.
It’s comical.
All B.S aside imagine firing your 17 yr head coach who’s never had a losing season.. For who ? Jim harbaugh ? Ben Johnson ? Stop it please ..
Tomlin is the new Marv Lewis
Lewis had a lot of losing seasons. What makes you think that the current regime could pick a replacement for Tomlin?
If the Steelers fired Tomlin he would probably be unemployed for less time than it took me to write this comment.
Absolutely true. But part of me wonders if he’s simply been in one place too long and he’s getting tuned out by too many guys.
Or maybe he just has 3 bad quarterbacks on the team. Once Roethlisberger started going downhill, Tomlin started getting questioned. There was a time when Pittsburgh had a very formidable offense with the 3 B’s. Look no further than Belichick. He was a genius with Brady. Same with baseball managers. Sparky Anderson won a World Series with the Tigers and the Reds. He also lost 112 games with the Tigers. Did he forget how to manage? Coaches get too much credit and too much blame