Mike Tomlin steps down as Steelers head coach after 19 seasons, 7 straight playoff losses
For the first time in nearly two decades, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be in search of a new head coach.
Team president Art Rooney II announced Tuesday afternoon head coach Mike Tomlin has stepped down after 19 seasons in the role.
“Obviously, I am extremely grateful to Mike for all the hard work, dedication and success we have shared over the last 19 years,” Rooney said in a statement posted to the Steelers’ website.
The announcement comes hours after the Steelers’ 30-6 loss in the AFC wild-card playoff game to the Houston Texans at Acrisure Stadium. It was the seventh consecutive loss in a playoff game for the Steelers, who haven’t won a postseason game since January 2017.
Tomlin was an unknown when the Steelers plucked him from obscurity in 2007 and handed the young and charismatic Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator one of the most stable jobs in sports.
“I am deeply grateful to Art Rooney II and the late Ambassador (Dan) Rooney for their trust and support,” Tomlin said in a statement released by the team. “I am also thankful to the players who gave everything they had every day, and to the coaches and staff whose commitment and dedication made this journey so meaningful.”
In his 19 seasons as head coach, Tomlin led the Steelers to two conference championships, a Super Bowl title (2009), eight AFC North titles, 13 playoff appearances and an overall regular-season record of 193-114-2. The Steelers never had a losing record during his tenure.
Asked repeatedly what separated Tomlin from his peers, his players pointed to his consistency. Tomlin was the same coach day after day, season after season.
That consistency, far too often of late, also bled into the results. Especially in the playoffs.
The 53-year-old Tomlin went 8-12 in the postseason, losing each of his last seven playoff games, all by double-digit margins.
His 193 regular-season wins leaves him tied for ninth, along with Steelers legend Chuck Noll, among NFL head coaches. But Tomlin faced criticism during his tenure for never winning the Super Bowl more than once, whereas Noll led Pittsburgh to four titles.
Tomlin's success early on with Pittsburgh leveled off into a pattern of solid if not always spectacular play, followed by a playoff cameo that ended with the Steelers looking outclassed at every turn.
There were chants of “Fire Tomlin” throughout the 2025 season, the most passionate in November while the Steelers were getting pushed around by Buffalo in a loss that dropped their record to 6-6.
Tomlin did his best to tune out the noise and his team responded, the way it seemingly always did during his tenure. Pittsburgh won four of its final five games, including a sweep of Baltimore that gave the club its first AFC North title since 2020.
The optimism, however, dimmed once the Texans asserted themselves Monday night. The NFL's top-ranked defense suffocated Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh's offense while the league's highest-paid defense wilted late.
It was a familiar and frustrating pattern for a place where, as Tomlin noted not long after his introduction, “the standard is the standard.”
And while that remains the case for a team whose members walk by six Lombardi Trophies every day on the way to work, the results had plateaued. The Steelers finished with 9 or 10 wins in each of Tomlin's final five seasons, often doing just enough to squeak into the playoffs before being exposed by opponents.
Tomlin had two years left on the contract extension he signed in 2024, with the club holding the option for 2027. Should Tomlin want to return to coaching in the NFL before his contract with the Steelers expired, the club could seek compensation.
Either way, his departure leaves the Steelers looking for a head coach for just the third time since they hired Noll in 1969.
Pittsburgh likely won't lack for attractive candidates. The club's stability combined with its ability to remain competitive even without a franchise quarterback for the last half-decade means whoever gets the job will be given substantial leeway to get the team back to the top.
The announcement came as somewhat of a shock. In the final question he fielded as head coach, Tomlin painted an upbeat picture about the team's future.
“I always feel optimistic about what we’re capable of doing in terms of putting together a group, certainly,” he said Monday night.
And with that, he stepped off the dais and into a future that will not lack for options.
He could step into television if he wants, as Cowher did after retiring. Or he will have his choice of jobs if or when he wants to coach again. Players defended Tomlin — almost uniformly popular within the locker room — to the end.
Tight end Pat Freiermuth called Tomlin “one of the best coaches I'll ever play for, probably the best. In my opinion his message hasn't got stale. I believe in him.”
Freiermuth added his belief extended to general manager Omar Khan, who will be in charge of finding the right person for one of the most attractive coaching gigs in any league.
Tomlin's two predecessors are in the Hall of Fame. Tomlin could very well find himself getting fitted for a gold jacket of his own. Yet, rather than try to come back next year and break Noll's record for regular-season wins, he opted to, as Noll once famously put it, “get on with his life's work.”
