Steelers have decision in mind for HC Mike Tomlin's future

As the Pittsburgh Steelers stumble down the stretch and have the effort level of several top players questioned, there have been calls for the teams and head coach Mike Tomlin to head their separate ways after this season. Not only does that seem unlikely to happen, the Steelers would like to give Tomlin a contract extension after this season according to a Saturday report from Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio.

According to Florio, Tomlin is already involved in roster planning for the 2024 and 2025 seasons and the organization would like to have an extension in place before next season begins.

Tomlin's contract is set to expire after the 2024 campaign. The Steelers could theoretically bring him back next season without an extension, but they clearly do not want a lame-duck head coach. If the 2024 season goes south the way the 2023 season has there would also be nothing stopping them from making a change. But even then it seems unlikely.

The Steelers pride themselves on stability and as long as Tomlin has the team competitive the job is seemingly his as long as he wants it. No matter how much noise there is from outside for the team to make a change.

The 2023 season is Tomlin's 17th as head coach of the Steelers and while his overall resume has been outstanding there have been some challenges in recent years. On one hand, the Steelers have never had a losing record during Tomlin's tenure and have only played one game (Week 17 of the 2012 season) in which they had been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. 

They have also appeared in three AFC Championship games (2008, 2010 and 2016) and two Super Bowls (2008 and 2010), winning one of them (2008).

The recent criticism and calls for a change come from the fact the Steelers have not won a playoff game since the 2016 trip to the AFC Championship Game, have won 10 games just one time since then and  – if they do not make the playoffs this season – will be on a seven-year run without a postseason victory. That would be the longest drought for the franchise in the Super Bowl era. It would also be consecutive non-playoff seasons, something which has happened four times in the past six years. 

Making it worse is that the Steelers seemed to be well positioned for a playoff spot just three weeks ago before losing to the Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts in consecutive weeks, with the former two games coming at home. Add in repeated instances of players quitting on plays and it is easy to argue that Tomlin's message has grown stale. None of that seems to outweigh the stability Steelers ownership wants.