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Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin abruptly stormed out of the press conference after Saturday’s 17-31 AFC Wild Card loss against the Buffalo Bills. Steelers’ longest-serving coach clarified that he was not ready to acknowledge questions regarding his future in Pittsburgh.
With plenty of noise around Tomlin’s future, a question on his next move was inevitable. It was widely reported before the game that Tomlin would discuss with his family before making a concrete decision on his NFL coaching future.
Tomlin took the podium for his routine post-game availability for the media, but the conversation took a wild turn when ESPN reporter Brooke Pryor prefaced a question by saying,
“Mike, you have a year left on your contract....”
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And that was it. Before Pryor could finish the question, Tomlin just turned to his left and exited from the press conference with elan. Was it bizarre? Probably. But what about Tomlin’s future? That remains uncertain, leaving the media and fans to speculate on what the coach will do with his contract set to expire after the 2024 season.
Will Mike Tomlin be fired or will he leave Steelers after NFL Playoffs struggles
Despite the unsuccessful attempts at getting over the playoffs slump since 2016, Tomlin’s coaching career in Pittsburgh is rather storied. He is the longest-tenured head coach in the NFL since the departure of Bill Belichick from the New England Patriots last week.
Is Mike Tomlin getting fired in the offseason by the Steelers front office? That’s highly unlikely, however, reports are suggesting that the 51-year-old head coach could resign, regardless of the year that's left on his contract.
UPDATE: In a team meeting on Tuesday, January 17, Tomlin told his Steelers players that the speculation about him leaving is completely unfounded. He will, then, return for the 2024 season.
If Tomlin were to leave, he’d leave Pittsburgh on his terms rather than take the axe from franchise executives. Since joining the Steelers as a 35-year-old, Tomlin has two Super Bowl appearances (won 1, lost 1), a Super Bowl 43 title, 11 playoff runs, seven division titles, and three AFC Championship Games.
In his 17 years in Pittsburgh, Tomlin has been plagued with average quarterbacks after Ben Roethlisberger's retirement in 2022. Mitch Trubisky, Mason Rudolph and Kenny Pickett have not ruffled any feathers to help Tomlin with his rebuild in Pittsburgh.
As the Steelers organization goes back to the drawing board in the offseason, the expectation is that Tomlin will continue to remain coy about his future until the right time. That could also mean that an announcement can come out even before the 2024 NFL Draft in April.
Over his 17-year-long tenure as the Steelers head coach, Tomlin has never had a losing season as he compiled a 173-100-2 record in the regular season with an 8-10 (win-loss) mark in the playoffs.
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