Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season, but some believe that trend will finally come to an end this year.
“Count me in as somebody predicting the Steelers are not going to make the playoffs and not going to win a playoff game for the ninth consecutive year,” Colin Cowherd said on The Herd.
For most of his time in Pittsburgh, Tomlin’s signal caller was Ben Roethlisberger, which made life a lot easier. Since his retirement, the Steelers have been in a hole on offense and have ranked towards the bottom of the league in scoring for multiple seasons in a row now.
The Steelers averaged just 18.1 PPG in 2022, 17.9 in 2023, and 21.9 in 2024, ranking 26th, 28th, and 20th.
Tomlin’s specialty has always been defense, however, at some point, a coach has to get the offense right. In today’s NFL, if a team isn't scoring, a team isn't winning.
“I just think it’s time,” Cowherd said. “If it takes you seven to eight years to fix the offensive line and you still can’t get it right, and Pittsburgh still can’t. Mcvay and Andy Reid and Kevin O’Connell can do it in an offseason. You’re outdated.”
The Steelers have many holes to fill. They will enter the 2025 season with a brand new quarterback room and they lost George Pickens and Najee Harris. Bringing in DK Metcalf and rookie Kaleb Johnson are phenomenal replacements for those guys, however, it’s still a new scene to them.
Tomlin’s future with Pittsburgh is really going to come down to one thing, and that is if he can find the next franchise quarterback.
Although there aren’t many coaches in NFL history who would have continued to have winning seasons under similar circumstances as Tomlin, critics and, more importantly, the fans are foaming at the mouth for a playoff victory.
In the city of Pittsburgh, just having winning seasons isn’t good enough. They are about competing for titles and it's been nearly a decade since they have.
