In 2007 the Pittsburgh Steelers hired a young and promising head coach named Mike Tomlin. A year after being hired, Tomlin would lead the Steelers to their 6th Super Bowl in franchise history.
Two years after that, the Steelers would again win the AFC before ultimately falling in the Super Bowl.
Coach Tomlin has not had a losing season. In all of his 18 years coaching. he has finished the year at .500 or higher. So, with this much success why are there so many clamoring for him to be fired.
Here are three reasons why the Steelers should move on from Tomlin and fire – or at least trade – him.
The first reason that the Steelers and Mike Tomlin should part ways is playoff performance. Tomlin has had 12 different playoff appearances with the Steelers. In those appearances he has an 8-11 record, with one Super Bowl and 2 AFC championship wins. However, both the Super Bowl and the AFC championships happened more than 10 years ago. More recently Tomlin has gone eight years without a single playoff win.
In particular, in the last four playoff games the Steelers have gotten blown out of the water. In the 2024-2025 season they lost to the Baltimore Ravens 28-14 after starting the game down 21-0. In the 2023-2024 season they lost to the Bills 31-17, after starting out 21-7. During the 2022-2023 campaign they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, 42-21, after yet again starting out 21-7. In the 2021-2022 season they lost to the Cleveland Browns, 48-37, after unsurprisingly starting out 28-0. Tomlin simply is incapable of preparing his teams for big games.
The second reason the Steelers should fire Tomlin is he has not been able to make good hires at either offensive or defensive coordinator. Tomlin is a head coach in the NFL that does not call either the offense or the defense, so he needs to hire coordinators. The Steelers past four offensive coordinators have been plain out terrible. Arthur Smith, Matt Canada, Randy Ficthner and Todd Haley have all been terrible for the Steelers. Canada and Smith have been the two most recent coordinators for the Steelers. Both of them have landed the Steelers in the bottom 10 of offenses in the league. Tomlin was the lead in hiring both of the coordinators.
It is not like the coordinators have not had anything to work with. Last season the Steelers had a old veteran quarterback in Russel Wilson and a young athletic freak with huge upside in Justin Fields both on the roster. They also have a very solid running back room with Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren, a top 10 tight end in Pat Freiermuth, one of the most talented receivers in the league in George Pickens. With all of these key pieces they still were not able to muster up an NFL level offense.
On the defensive side of the ball Tomlin hired Teryl Austin. Austin has been a mediocre-at-best coordinator throughout his tenure with the Steelers. However, the Steelers had defensive mastermind Brian Flores on their roster just two seasons ago. They allowed him to walk so that they could stick with Austin. Flores has turned a Vikings defense with way less star power into a top 5 defense in the league while the ultra talented Steelers defense can barely crack the top ten.
The final reason Tomlin should be fired is due to his inability to form a complete roster. Every season that Tomlin has been head coach there has been a glaring need that they have simply not addressed. This season it was a wide receiver two to go along side George Pickens. The Steelers would eventually remedy this need at the trade deadline by trading for Mike Williams. However, when he got to the Steelers Tomlin would not let him see the field. Williams played fewer snaps than both Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin. During the Killer Bs era, the Steelers had everything that they should have needed to win a Super Bowl, except for a NFL level corner. However, unsurprisingly the team was unable to fill the need. In the later years of Ben Roethlisberger’s career the Steelers failed to have a backup plan for the future Hall-Of-Famer. In the 2018 NFL draft the Steelers would take an average safety in Terrell Edmunds. The only problem with that was Heisman winning quarterback, Lamar Jackson, was still on the board. The Ravens would draft Jackson with the 32nd overall pick and the rest is history.
If the Steelers would have selected Jackson instead of Edmunds, who is no longer on the team, who knows what the future would hold. Since Tomlin has always been above .500, the Steelers have never had a high enough draft pick to select a generational talent.
Tomlin is one of the best coaches in NFL history and there is no doubt that he is a first ballot Hall-Of-Famer; however, all good things have to eventually end. It is Tomlin’s time to leave to leave the organization, whether that be him resigning, agreeing to a trade, or ultimately being fired. There is no doubt that the Steelers fan base loves and his thankful for the great coach, however it is time for a change.
