Heading into the Wild Card round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs, a curious report surfaced. Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, a man who’d never seen a losing season in 17 years at the helm, was uncertain about his future in the City of Bridges.
The consternation wasn’t on the Steelers’ side of the equation. Tomlin was entering the final year of his current contract, leaving him the chance to take a clean break from the franchise he’s been coaching since he was 35 years old. And while the sourcing of the report was uneven, it made at least a modicum of sense.
Tomlin wasn’t interested in making it a public issue, however. So when a reporter asked him about his future toward the end of his press conference following a 31-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills, he didn’t even let her finish her question. He just left.
Tomlin end of his presser…. pic.twitter.com/ysKotELlPc
— Ari Meirov (@AriMeirov) January 16, 2024
“Mike, you have a year left…” the reporter began, prompting Tomlin to turn 90 degrees from the podium and walk off. “On your contract,” she continued, but Tomlin had already walked out of frame. Press conference over. Future uncertain. Mike Tomlin? Still very much Mike Tomlin.
If Tomlin leaves, he’d leave Pittsburgh to just its third head coach search since 1969. He’s got one Super Bowl title on his resume, but his Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since 2016. He’s been plagued with bad-to-mediocre quarterbacks over that stretch and just kept winning in the regular season, becoming his own worst enemy in the face of a potential rebuild.
Still, this is a coach who is 173-100-2 during the regular season. He’s 40-26-1 over the last four years despite starting late stage Ben Roethlisberger, Mitchell Trubisky, Mason Rudolph and Kenny Pickett at quarterback. He’s earned the right to take some time and think about his future. And the right to walk away from the podium rather than address the subject publicly.
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