The Pittsburgh Steelers enter yet another season with a new veteran quarterback, once again chasing what feels like a final shot at a Super Bowl, or at the very least, a single playoff win. After going all in with the signing of Russell Wilson last year and now doubling down with Aaron Rodgers, it is clear the front office is pushing their chips to the center of the table one more time.
With an aging core and a flurry of offseason moves, this feels like their last real attempt to make it happen.
But after last season’s collapse, losing four straight games down the stretch and getting blown out in yet another disappointing playoff exit, the question looms: if this year ends the same way, with a late season meltdown and a one and done playoff run, will this finally be the season Art Rooney has the guts to ask whether Mike Tomlin is still the right man to lead this team?
Should the 2025 Pittsburgh Steelers fail, will Mike Tomlin’s seat finally start to get hot?
Year after year, the Pittsburgh Steelers deliver the same postseason result. In recent memory, the lack of playoff success has clearly taken a toll not just on the players but on the front office, ownership, and coaching staff.
What is most concerning is the growing trend: a stagnant offense, late-season collapses, a highly paid defense that crumbles against top competition, and embarrassing first-round playoff exits. This is now an eight-year playoff win drought. Something has to change, and we all know what that change should be.
After last season’s disaster when the organization went all in on Russell Wilson only for it to blow up spectacularly, and with the league’s highest-paid defense looking average at best, even the national media, who have treated Mike Tomlin like a sacred figure, began to acknowledge that the real problem might lie deeper.
Now here we are again. The Steelers have taken the same path, which was to just run it back. Despite all the warning signs, they have kept the entire coaching staff intact and made no real structural or philosophical changes. Instead, they have signed yet another aging veteran quarterback in Aaron Rodgers, hoping that simply swapping quarterbacks will fix what has become a deeply rooted issue.
But the issues go far beyond the roster. They are rooted in outdated schemes, a lack of adaptability, questionable culture, and unchecked egos in the locker room, for example. Yet no one inside the organization seems willing to ask the hard questions about why this keeps happening.
If this season ends like so many others, with another collapse and a one-and-done playoff appearance, there is only one person who should be held accountable: Mike Tomlin.
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At some point, accountability has to come into play. Nearly a decade of mediocrity cannot continue to go unchecked. And you have to think as well with next year’s NFL Draft taking place in Pittsburgh, where the team is likely to select its next franchise quarterback after the failure of the Kenny Pickett experiment, one thing is clear.
You cannot hand another rookie quarterback to Mike Tomlin and expect different results. Not after how this offense has looked since Ben Roethlisberger retired. Tomlin has shown himself completely inept when it comes to building a functional offense or understanding what goes into creating a great one, including the development of young quarterbacks.
It seems clear he has accepted this failure, instead leaning on his love of signing older washed-up veteran quarterbacks like Russell Wilson and now Aaron Rodgers.
The front office has gone all-in to support Tomlin, opting not to rebuild but instead providing him with the veterans and structure he’s wanted. Still, this should be his final season, regardless of last year’s extension. Frustration over the lack of postseason success is bubbling up, even reaching Art Rooney himself.
Another year like this, and I believe he’ll begin to question things. For Rooney, it should come down to this: either Tomlin delivers at least a playoff win or more, or the organization must finally draw the line and decide what’s best for its future.