Steelers owner Art Rooney II gets blunt on Bears' pursuit of Mike Tomlin

Art Rooney II has overseen one of the more concerning downswings in the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers ever since he became the franchise's principal owner in 2017. Far from regaining the Super Bowl glory that he experienced when he was team president, he has overseen five consecutive playoff losses, all one-and-dones.

A week after the latest such defeat, a Wild Card shellacking at the Baltimore Ravens in this season's Wild Card Round, Adam Schefter reported that the Chicago Bears had expressed interest in trading for head coach Mike Tomlin. This would have marked the first time a head coach had been traded since Herm Edwards went to the Kansas City Chiefs from the New York Jets in 2006.

However, they were rebuffed, leading to them hiring Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson instead. Speaking during Monday's end-of-season presser, Rooney said:

“It really didn’t go very far. We weren’t interested in really pursuing it, and so it was a pretty short conversation."

He continued by expressing confidence in his man despite their season-ending five-game losing streak:

“I know he’s frustrated like we all are, in terms of not being able to take that next step. We still feel good about him being our leader and still think he has the strengths that he’s always had.

“The bottom line is you don’t win as many games in this league as Mike Tomlin has had. He’s a good coach... The other side of the coin is the fact that we have six, seven, eight teams a year that turn their coaches over. When you have a good coach, you just try to keep building with him.”

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Art Rooney II foresees little changes to Mike Tomlin's coaching staff

Sticking to coaching, another topic that Art Rooney II touched upon was the size and composition of Mike Tomlin's staff. According to him, the organization will not have an evolution rather than a revolution, given that most of them are under contract for 2025:

“I don’t expect wholesale changes, but yeah, I think there are probably going to be a couple of changes.”

He also rejected the notion that the Steelers needed to add people:

“I don’t see that holding us back. I don’t think that’s a problem.”

The franchise holds the 21st overall pick in the upcoming draft.