Tomlin has been leading the Steelers since 2007 and will likely be back next season.
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had a simple message for teams potentially interested in trading for his services in the offseason: “Save your time.”
Tomlin, who has been head coach of the Steelers since 2007, was not keen on discussing a future outside of Pittsburgh during his end-of-season press conference on Tuesday, and was focused only on taking what he can from the 2024 season and improving upon it for 2025.
“A component of that disappointment is I thought this collective was better positioned, maybe more so than in recent years to not be in this similar place, but we are,” Tomlin said. “There’s obviously a lot of work to do to be quite honest with you. I’m energized in terms of beginning the process of doing it because I’m a competitor. I love this game and this business, even when it’s miserable. I’ve seen so much in it and been through so much in it, very rarely do I respond to the present circumstance, whether it’s positive or negative, because of the depths of the relationship that I have with the game.
The Steelers’ season ended with a wild-card playoff loss for the fifth time in the past eight seasons following a 28-14 defeat to the Baltimore Ravens. It was the end of a month-long slide that began with a 10-3 record after Week 14 and a spot atop the AFC North, two games ahead of the Ravens. It ended with another early offseason.
That Week 14 win over the Cleveland Browns would be the final one of their season as the Steelers finished the regular season with four straight defeats before a second loss to the Ravens in the span of 21 days.
According to Tomlin, the Steelers’ undoing in the final month of the season was deserved.
“I don’t view it as misfortune, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said. “Particularly at this level in this business and game, there’s football justice. You get what you deserve, and so we are here and we’re here for really tangible reasons. We didn’t involve in the right ways. We didn’t strike the right chords at the right time, particularly down the stretch.”
The lack of recent playoff success has drawn criticism among Steelers fans, but with Tomlin having signed a three-year extension in June and the organization’s stability in the head coaching position — three men in charge since 1969 — change at head coach isn’t likely to come.
“I understand the nature of what it is that we do, the attention and criticism that comes with it,” Tomlin said. “As a matter of fact, I embrace it, to be quite honest with you. I enjoy the urgency that comes with what I do and what we do.
“I don’t make excuses for failure. I own it, but I also feel like I’m capable and so as long as I’m afforded an opportunity to do that, I will continue, but I certainly understand their frustrations and probably more importantly than that, I share it because that’s how I’m wired.”
In 18 seasons with the Steelers, Tomlin has compiled a 183-107-2 record and has led them to two Super Bowls, winning one (Super Bowl XLIII), while making 12 playoff appearances.
There are questions to be answers and areas to improve before the 2025 season kicks off, and that’s what Tomlin and the Steelers’ brass will be focused on in the coming months.
For starters, both of the Steelers quarterbacks — Russell Wilson and Justin Fields — are on expiring contracts. Fields helped the Steelers to a 4-2 start before Wilson took over the starting job. Wilson said this week “the plan” is to be back in Pittsburgh next season, but no discussions about a contract have taken place. Tomlin said “certainly” when asked if Fields could be a 17-game starter.
There are potential staff changes that could take place and then looking at the future beyond 2025, wide receiver George Pickens and and 2021 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and four-time first-team All-Pro T.J. Watt are entering contract years.
Still early in a long offseason, Tomlin wasn’t prepared to sell optimism or pessimism for 2025 just yet, as the work is just beginning.
“I don’t know that I’m ready to be overly optimistic or sell optimism to you either. I’m just acknowledging what transpired and what has to happen and what is beginning to happen and acknowledging the complexity and the amount of work that’s ahead of us,” Tomlin said. “Certainly feel capable, but definitely don’t feel in the mood for optimism or the selling of optimism. I don’t know that that’s appropriate. It is disappointing not to be working and so that’s where we are.”
