The Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since 2016, but they aren’t changing coaches, and they might not be changing quarterbacks.
Owner Art Rooney II voiced his support for Mike Tomlin on Monday.
“The players still respond to Mike, and that’s No. 1,” Rooney said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “He still has the key characteristics that we saw when we hired him. He can keep the attention of a group of 20-year-olds for a whole season and keep them in the fight for the whole way.
“So, still feel good about Mike. Obviously if I didn’t, [we] would make a change, but if we didn’t think Mike was able to lead us to a championship, he wouldn’t be here, and that’s why he is here.”
Tomlin, who signed a three-year contract extension in 2021 that runs through 2024, said two weeks ago that he expects a contract extension this offseason. Rooney has said on multiple occasions that he expects to extend Tomlin’s contract this offseason.
Rooney didn’t offer an update on the timeline Monday.
“It’ll be done when it gets done,” Rooney said. “Those things are hard to speculate how long it’ll take. At this point, I don’t see it getting done before the [offensive] coordinator’s hired. I think that’s going to happen sooner rather than later.”
Tomlin, 51, has spent 17 seasons as Pittsburgh’s head coach. He is 173-100-2 and has never had a losing season.
He has not, however, been able to replicate the success he had earlier in his career. The Steelers won the Super Bowl in the 2008 season and won the AFC in the 2010 season. They are 3-8 in the postseason since their last Super Bowl appearance.
“Certainly, there’s a resolve there and a determination there,” Rooney said of Tomlin. “And I think I said before, I think all of us that have been around for a little while are anxious to take this next step -- and getting a little impatient -- and we need to see the kind of improvement we all want to see. Mike believes that as firmly as anybody else in the building.”
