The Mike Tomlin Situation
Photo by Brook Ward.
After an ass-kicking in Buffalo, Twitter/X was an interesting place for Steeler fans. Probably 50-percent of yinz think we should draft a QB or trade for Justin Fields. Then 25-percent of yinz think Mason Rudolph earned his chance to start next year. Of course, there’s Kenny Pickett homers in there too, who believe this is still his team. Ultimately, I think the QB situation is good-spirited banter between Steeler fans. I don’t think there’s anything malicious being said to anyone about quarterbacks; we just wanna win. No matter who is behind center next year, they’ll have the support of Steeler fans, as long as we’re winning games. Then, there’s the Mike Tomlin situation. *ducks for cover*
In Mike Tomlin’s post-game press conference, Brooke Pryor from ESPN started to ask, “Mike, you have a year left on your contract-” before Mike Tomlin sped the hell away from the podium, not even waiting for the end of that dumbass question.
Now, Brooke Pryor has been getting GRILLED on the internet for attempting to ask that question immediately after the Steelers got eliminated from the playoffs. Even I just said that was a dumbass question. However, Brooke Pryor is a consummate professional who was asking a question that was on everyone’s mind, anyway. Not to mention, ESPN likely instructed her to ask that question. There’s a time and a place, but let’s cut her some slack.
For the last several weeks, there have been numerous reports from people “in the know” that claim that Mike Tomlin was going to take some time before committing to coaching this team in the future. I’ve been hearing this everywhere, but most notably, from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk over on NBC Sports.
It’s now being reported that Mike Tomlin told the locker room and coaching staff, on Tuesday, that he’ll be back for the 2024 season. By all indications, the Steelers want to extend Mike Tomlin, and they want him to be the head coach for the foreseeable future. If Mike Tomlin’s tenure is nearing its end, it won’t be in 2024, and it’ll be on him to step away. So, that’s that.
It’s now time to shift our focus to beefing up this coaching staff and getting some bright offensive minds on our sideline. The defensive coaching staff shouldn’t be safe either. We dealt with a lot of injuries this year on the defensive side of the ball, but defensive specialists weather those storms, and our last several playoff appearances have been embarrassments on the defensive side of the ball.
I understand the frustration of Steeler fans and our lack of postseason success in recent years, but I love Mike Tomlin. The players love Mike Tomlin. I don’t want to see him go anywhere any time soon. The fact is, we’re relevant every single year, because of his coaching. There’s so much young talent on this team, and if we can hire some folks from the outside to our coaching staff, we’ll continue to be relevant in the coming years.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I became a Steeler fan in 2004-2005. I only caught the tail-end of the Bill Cowher era. Mike Tomlin has been the head coach of my Pittsburgh Steelers for, essentially, the entirety of my fandom. So, maybe I’m just a biased, dumb, young yinzer. But, my coach ain’t going nowhere. And, even with the uncertainty surrounding our team, I have faith in this front office and coaching staff to make us a formidable team next season.
We press on. Love you, Coach Tomlin.
Here we go!
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