SAD NEWS: Mike Tomlin announced his plan to leave the Pittsburgh Steelers as head coach. Because of…
Mike Tomlin dislikes having his future in Pittsburgh questioned.
After the Steelers lost to the Bills 31–17 in a wild-card game, Mike Tomlin quickly departed the stage when a reporter in Pittsburgh’s postgame news conference asked him, “Mike, you have a year left on your contract.”
Before opening things up to media, the 51-year-old started his time at the platform by thanking his opponent for a valiant victory, looking at what Pittsburgh did to score 21 early points against Buffalo, and providing injury reports.
He answered questions about the performance of quarterback Mason Rudolph, Buffalo’s tight end usage, T.J. Watt’s absence, Pittsburgh’s turnovers, and the team’s incapacity to generate a run game.
Unfortunately, it turned out that the contract matter was a bridge too far.
Tomlin’s contract expires after the 2024 season, and there have been rumors recently that he may leave the team one year early. Although there was no question that he would need some time to come to terms with yet another playoff defeat before offering an unambiguous assessment of the future, such a brazen departure is by no means a guarantee he will play for an 18th season.
In his illustrious head coaching career to date, Tomlin has amassed a 173-100-2 record, made two visits to the Super Bowl (winning one), and made eleven postseason appearances.
In spite of a rather turbulent 2023 season, he also set a new NFL record with 17 straight winning seasons to begin a career.
