The Pittsburgh Steelers finished with a 10-7 record during the 2024 NFL season and many Steelers fans were calling for head coach Mike Tomlin to be fired after another playoff loss against the Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers have not won a playoff game since the 2016 season against the Kansas City Chiefs when Alex Smith was the starting quarterback for them.
Pittsburgh signed quarterback Aaron Rodgers to a one-year deal for the 2025 season. He is trying to lead the Steelers to the playoffs and try and get them to a playoff win or maybe more. Pittsburgh has not won a Super Bowl since the 2008 season against the Arizona Cardinals. What do fans think of Tomlin entering the 2025 NFL season?
Pittsburgh Steelers Insider Provides Massive Update On Mike Tomlin’s Job Security During Fan Mailbag
The Athletic writer Mike DeFabo covers the Steelers, and he answered a bunch of questions from the Pittsburgh fanbase. A fan named Joseph Y asked him,
“Is this more of a prove-it year for Mike Tomlin (because he finally has what most people think is a competent QB) or a throwaway (because that QB is 41 and was really the only option left)?”
DeFabo responded by saying,
“I feel like it’s going to be very similar to last year. Remember that at one point, Tomlin was getting Coach of the Year buzz for navigating a messy QB situation and leading the Steelers to a 10-3 start. Then, when the season came unraveled, many of the people who praised Tomlin were calling for his job.
In reality, Tomlin has nothing to prove to ownership. Remember that after the Steelers got embarrassed by the Buffalo Bills two years ago in the playoffs, extending Tomlin’s playoff winless drought to seven seasons, the Steelers’ response was to give Tomlin a raise that made him one of the NFL’s highest-paid coaches in a new contract that runs through 2027. For better or worse, that’s simply how the Rooney family does business with coaches.
That said, public opinion and job security are two different things. If the Steelers win a playoff game, I think most will feel like they met expectations. Anything less will be a disappointment.
The worst-case scenario for Tomlin is that he wins 10 games this season, ties Chuck Noll for the most regular-season wins in team history and then gets blown out in the first round of the playoffs yet again. Rather than celebrating Tomlin’s consistency in the regular season, the conversation would almost certainly be centered around how the Steelers have nearly gone a decade without a playoff win.”
If the Steelers move on from Tomlin, it probably will not be until after the 2027 NFL season. A lot of fans also believed that they should not have traded for wide receiver D.K. Metcalf or signed Rodgers in the offseason. Some believe that along with trading away wide receiver George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys, they should also trade away edge rusher T.J. Watt with only having one-year remaining on his contract and have a hard reset and start a rebuild.
However, Pittsburgh always wants to win now and compete for championships. This is why Tomlin wanted a quarterback like Rodgers and not go with Mason Rudolph in the regular season. During the regular season, he has a 183-107-2 record and an 8-11 record in the postseason in his career. The Ravens will be the favorites to win the AFC North division in 2025.
Pittsburgh and the Cincinnati Bengals could be battling it out for second place in the division. As for the Cleveland Browns, they will probably be in fourth place in the AFC North. Even if the Steelers happened to finish in fourth in the AFC North, the fans could call for a head coaching change all they want, but Tomlin isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
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