The Steelers plan to extend head coach Mike Tomlin’s contract this offseason, but they aren’t looking for the status quo of recent seasons to remain in place.
While the Steelers have never had a losing season with Tomlin, it’s been a while since they’ve enjoyed any playoff success. The team’s last playoff win came after the 2016 season and team owner Art Rooney II said on Monday that he wants to see that change in the near future.
“We’ve had enough of this,” Rooney said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com. “It’s time to get some wins, it’s time to take these next steps.”
Rooney said that the Steelers would have made a coaching change if they “didn’t think Mike was able to lead us to a championship” and that Tomlin is on the same page as Rooney when it comes to wanting to see deeper playoff runs.
“Certainly, there’s a resolve there and a determination there,” Rooney said. “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.”
One decision that will factor into the team’s chances of ending the playoff drought will be the choice of a new offensive coordinator. The Steelers have been interviewing candidates over the last couple of weeks.
