Mike

Tomlin

The once-longest-tenured head coach stepped away from the Steelers following the 2025 season and will now take his personality and skills to the booth, joining NBC’s Football Night in America. The network also announced that the entire crew will hit the road every weekend in 2026, meaning the show will be live at the location of Sunday Night Football throughout the season. “I’m excited about just sharing my passion for football,” Tomlin said as part of the announcement.

Tomlin believes Rodgers remains a “capable” player and still loves the game. The positive reports regarding Rodgers’ potential return continue to trickle in. Last week, Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy said that he has confidence in Rodgers’ current abilities, and the team only added Round 3 rookie QB Drew Allar to the mix over the weekend. He joins incumbent QBs Will Howard and Mason Rudolph. Allar is an interesting prospect but likely needs time to develop. Being mentored by Rodgers would be very helpful for him.

Rooney was asked in a Wednesday presser whether the Steelers would trade Tomlin to another team hoping to fill their head coaching vacancy with the Steelers legend this offseason. “Mike indicated that he did not anticipate coaching, at least in the near future,” Rooney said. “If something like that comes up, we’ll deal with it when it comes up. But right now, it doesn’t appear to be on his radar.” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday that several NFL teams were interested in talking to Tomlin about their head coaching jobs. It seems unlikely Tomlin will be on an NFL sideline in 2026.

Tomlin on Tuesday stepped down from the Steelers head coaching job following the team’s Wild Card loss to the Texans. TV networks are reportedly jockeying to hire Tomlin as an NFL analyst for next season while teams with head coaching vacancies are reaching out in case Tomlin, 54, is still interested in coaching. Rapoport said the Steelers still have Tomlin’s “rights,” and that “draft compensation would be necessary” if a team were to sign Tomlin. “That said, teams were told Tomlin does not plan to coach next year,” Rapoport said. We don’t expect Tomlin on an NFL sideline in 2026.

Tomlin told his players that he plans to step away from coaching. We’re not completely sure that he’ll be content with a booth gig, and at the very least other NFL teams will spend the next 36-48 hours trying to change his mind on that. Tomlin was 193-114-2 in his 19 years as Steelers head coach, winning a Super Bowl in 2008 and going to another in 2010. The end of his career became a morass of tough defensive teams that didn’t have a quarterback as Ben Roethlisberger declined, and yet Tomlin persisted in dragging the team to the playoffs in five of the last six seasons anyway. The Steelers head coaching vacancy figures to be an extremely attractive one for other head coaches, but Tomlin has set a standard that will be hard to match. The Steelers retain Tomlin’s rights and, should he come back to coach for another team, could get trade compensation for him ala the Saints with Sean Payton.

Tomlin said after the Steelers’ Wild Card loss to the Texans that he was not in the “mindset” to make a decision on whether he’ll return to Pittsburgh in 2026. “I’m more in the mindset of what transpired in this stadium, and certainly what we did and didn’t do. Not a big-picture mentality as I sit here tonight,” Tomlin told reporters after yet another first-round playoff exit for his Steelers. Florio points out that Tomlin, who will turn 54 in March, has been coaching since the mid-90s when he started at Virginia Military Institute following his playing career. He’s won 63 percent of his games over 19 years as Steelers head coach. “For now, the question is whether Tomlin wants to spend a 20th year with the Steelers,” Florio said. “On one hand, why wouldn’t he? On the other hand, hearing the ‘fire Tomlin!’ chants during the Week 13 loss to Buffalo may have caused him to rethink sticking around in a place where, come next year, those chants could get louder.”

While Fowler conceded there “is no firm evidence as of now” that Tomlin will walk away from the Steelers head coaching job following the 2025-26 season, a source close to Tomlin “believes stepping away is at least a possibility.” Another source told Fowler Tomlin will return to the team for a 20th season at the helm. Fowlers said Tomlin “would be more intrigued by doing TV than returning to the coaching market, should he leave the Steelers. The source wonders what Tomlin has left to chase as an NFL coach.” The team rallied around Tomlin in December and January when it was clear his job could be on the line without a postseason berth. It’s possible Monday night will be Tomlin’s final game on the Pittsburgh sideline, however.

Tomlin is under contract for one more season. The Steelers haven’t fired a head coach since the 1968 season, and they aren’t likely to break that streak with Tomlin, the league’s longest-tenured boss. Pittsburgh faces Baltimore tonight with the AFC North crown on the line. Fans and pundits will call for Tomlin to be fired if they lose, but we suspect the organization will let him see the end of his contract even if the Steelers miss the postseason. Then Tomlin will have a prove-it year with the team in 2026. He is all but guaranteed his job for next year if Tomlin and the Steelers topple Baltimore tonight.

At 6-6 with a spiraling offense and a defense that has failed to live up to the hype, the Steelers are seemingly headed for, at best, another short-lived playoff run. They still need to make the postseason, likely by winning the AFC North, to even see another Wild Card Round loss. Pittsburgh fans have yet to experience a losing season under Tomlin. On the other hand, they haven’t seen a playoff win since 2017. His defense-first approach worked wonders when the offense took care of itself. That hasn’t been the case since Ben Roethlisberger retired, and it might be time for the team to try something new. Schefter notes that Tomlin is under contract through 20226 and his contract has a team option for 2027. The Steelers need to decide on that option by March 1. Declining the option could mark the beginning of the end for one of the most successful coaches in NFL history.

According to Schultz, “Pittsburgh is believed to be motivated to get a deal done at some point, though there’s still plenty of time before the season.” The report comes roughly three weeks after the Steelers traded George Pickens to the Cowboys, which created the issue at hand. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported earlier today that the Steelers have spoken to the Dolphins about acquiring TE Jonnu Smith, who played under OC Arthur Smith with the Falcons in 2023. The Steelers desperately need a No. 2 wide receiver, but they are simply seeking a receiving weapon, regardless of position.