It certainly feels like groundhog’s day for Pittsburgh Steelers fans again. Pittsburgh was blown out in the playoffs for the third consecutive season and despite forcing three turnovers on C.J. Stroud, ended up losing by 23 points on Monday night.
Pittsburgh has now gone nine seasons without a single playoff win, and since 2017, they’ve lost their six playoff games by a total of 86 points. They have not been remotely competitive in the playoffs in some time, and even in the playoff games they’ve won in the last 15 seasons, they’ve only beaten the following quarterbacks: A.J. McCarron, Matt Moore, and Alex Smith. And there is only one person to blame: Mike Tomlin.
It's Time For The Steelers To Fire Mike Tomlin
Mike Tomlin gets a lot of credit for his non-losing season streak and it is quite impressive. He’s done a masterful job of keeping the Steelers competitive in the regular season every single season and that does have value. But the goal in the NFL isn’t to stay one or two games above .500 every season. It’s to win playoff games with the hope of winning a Super Bowl. And unfortunately, he’s fallen way short of that mark over the last decade.
Since Mike Tomlin’s last playoff win, an 18-16 win over Alex Smith and the Chiefs, 28 different head coaches have won a playoff game. Three coaches (Dan Quinn, Doug Pederson, Mike Vrabel) have won playoff games with two different teams during that stretch. And that number could be extended if Sean Payton wins a playoff game this year with the Broncos.
Most playoff wins since 2017: pic.twitter.com/zvZMCivnRd
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) January 13, 2026
Coaches like Anthony Lynn, Jason Garrett, Mike Mularkey, Bill O’Brien, and Doug Marrone have all won playoff games since Tomlin’s last postseason win and none of those previously listed names have been head coaches this decade. At some point, the drought has become too long to ignore.
Mike Tomlin is a Super Bowl-winning head coach. That can never be taken away from him. But we’ve seen teams move on from Super Bowl-winning coaches, like the Packers, Eagles, Patriots, and Seahawks and be better for it. The Eagles won a Super Bowl in 2017 with Doug Pederson, fired him, and have since won another Super Bowl in 2024 with Nick Sirrani since Tomlin’s last win. The idea that Pittsburgh has no choice but to keep Tomlin because of a silly non-losing season streak is laughable when other progressive front offices keep the main goal the main goal.
If Pittsburgh’s goal is to just remain relevant each season, then it makes sense to keep Tomlin. He will probably drag this team to the postseason again in 2026, but they will have no real chance at competing for a title. That’s because Tomlin operates with a year-to-year mindset instead of having any long-term vision.
A perfect example of this is how he handled the quarterback situation this offseason. Rather than taking a swing on a Sam Darnold in free agency or drafting Jaxson Dart in Round 1, he was smitten by the idea of Aaron Rodgers. Darnold and Dart, for example, provided more long-term upside. But Tomlin opted for the quarterback who would raise the floor instead. He didn’t want to deal with a young quarterback who might make mistakes.
Tomlin trusted that Rodgers would not turn the ball over and deliver in key moments of the season. And to Rodgers’ credit, he didn’t turn the ball over much this season (just seven interceptions) and did have a few big moments late in games. He did exactly what Tomlin hoped he would do.
But his lack of upside and age really showed against playoff-caliber teams, and he was completely overmatched against good defenses. And now, Pittsburgh goes into another offseason without an answer at quarterback.
Tomlin and the front office also threw more money at the league’s most expensive defense, adding aging veterans like Jalen Ramsey, Chuck Clark, Kyle Dugger, and Jabril Peppers. Rather than investing in one of the league’s most stale offenses, Tomlin doubled down on his side of the ball, and the defense ended up being much worse in 2025.
Mike Tomlin can still coach. He’s a floor-raising coach who can drag sub-standard rosters to a winning season. But he’s not the type of coach who gives his team a big advantage in the postseason. And that’s why his teams continue to struggle in the postseason. He's just no longer in the tier of difference-making head coaches. And for some, that is a hard reality to accept.
Pittsburgh needs a fresh voice in the locker room and, particularly, an offensive-minded coach who can develop a quarterback. But as long as Tomlin is part of the Steelers, you count on him not wanting to go through the rough patches of developing a younger quarterback. It’s just not his style.
If the Steelers want to actually contend for a Super Bowl at some point in the decade, it’s time to rip the band-aid off and move on from Tomlin. He’s had a great run in Pittsburgh. But it’s over. We’ll see if Art Rooney and the rest of the front office agree with that conclusion or if they just want to run things back in 2026 for the sake of comfort and continuity
No other ownership in the league would be okay with nine-straight seasons without a playoff win. But that shows how far this historic franchise has fallen in the last 10 years, as comfort and continuity have replaced the ultimate goal of winning Super Bowls.