This was not something that many of us saw coming the day after the Pittsburgh Steelers lost in the first round of the 2025 NFL Playoffs. After a relatively strong start, keeping the game close, the Houston Texans began to pour it on, and the Steelers, yet again, suffered a double-digit loss in the playoffs.
Still, the Steelers have not won a playoff game since the 2016 NFL Season, and Mike Tomlin was 0-7 in his previous seven postseason games. It seems like Tomlin had enough, as he announced to the press that he was stepping down after nearly two decades of service. He was not fired, but he stepped down.
Among other things, this means that the Pittsburgh Steelers seemed to have every intention to keep him around for the 2026 NFL season, but Tomlin himself clearly had enough. As of now, the momentum is trending toward Tomlin simply not coaching in the NFL in the 2026 season, and right after the news broke, Steelers' President Art Rooney II released an emotional statement.
Art Rooney II releases a very emotional, appreciative statement after Mike Tomlin steps down as Pittsburgh Steelers HC
Here is the statement from Steelers' President Art Rooney II:
Statement from Steelers President Art Rooney II on Coach Mike Tomlin: pic.twitter.com/1g5iqKi9MN
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) January 13, 2026
You can even tell that in this statement, Rooney was shocked to hear that Tomlin was stepping down, and this isn't something that happened days later - this was not even one day after the Steelers' playoff loss. For multiple seasons now, Steelers fans have been truly calling for the team to make a change.
Dating back to the 2021 regular season, the Mike Tomlin-led Pittsburgh Steelers had won 9 or 10 games in the regular season. It was becoming a standard of mediocrity to a degree, and it's not that Tomlin can't coach - both sides clearly needed a fresh start.
The Pittsburgh Steelers were one of the winningest teams in the NFL under Mike Tomlin's leadership for nearly 20 years. Art Rooney II, Omar Khan, and other decision-makers in the organization will now have to make a massive decision on who to hire to replace someone who has brought a ton of success to the team.