Steelers have has made a worst decision in mind for……
As the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season comes to a grinding halt and questions are raised about the effort of several of their top players, there are calls for the team and head coach, Mike Tomlin, to part ways at the end of the season.
Not only does that appear to be out of the question, however, according to Saturday reports from Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, the team would like to extend Tomlin for an additional year after this one.
Florio reports that the team is already in the process of planning its roster for the upcoming 2024 and 2025 seasons, and would like to have Tomlin’s extension in place before the start of next season.
Mike Tomlin’s contract is up after the 2024 season. The Steelers can theoretically bring him back without an extension next season, but they don’t want a “lame-duck” coach. If things go south in 2024 like they did in 2023, they won’t have to make a change either. Even then, it doesn’t seem likely.
Pittsburgh prides itself on stability. As long as Tomlin keeps the team competitive, the job is probably his for as long as he wishes. There won’t be much outside pressure for the team to change things up.
This 2023 season marks Tomlin’s 17th as the Steelers head coach, and while his overall track record is excellent, there have been some issues in recent years.
On the plus side, the Steelers haven’t had a losing record under Tomlin, and they’ve only played a single game (Week 17, 2012) in which they were out of playoff contention.
They also went to three AFC Championship games in 2008, 2010 and 2016, and they went to two Super Bowls in 2008 and 2010, winning one in 2008. The recent criticism and calls to fire Tomlin stem from the fact that the Steelers have not made a playoff since their trip to the 2016 AFC Championship Game. They have won 10 games only once since then, and – if they don’t make it this season – will have gone seven years without a playoff victory. That would have been the longest drought in the franchise’s Super Bowl history, and it would have been the fourth non-playoff season in the last six years. To make matters worse, the Steelers looked like they were on their way to a playoff berth just three weeks ago, before losing to Arizona, New England and Indianapolis in back-to-back weeks, with the first two of those losses coming at home. All of that doesn’t seem to outweigh the stability that Steelers ownership wants.
According to players interviewed, there has been speculation that the teams and Mike Tomlin will part ways at the end of the season.
Not only does that appear to be out of the question, but the Steelers would also like to extend Tomlin after this season, according to Saturday’s report from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
Florio notes that Tomlin has already begun planning rosters for the upcoming seasons, and the team would like to extend him before next season.
