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Former NFL HC says that Mike Tomlin's handling of the Steelers' quarterback position has him on the hot seat in Pittsburgh

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Rob Gregson | Last updated May 19, 2025 8:39 AM ET

At this point, Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers are one and the same.

Now the longest tenured head coach in North America, Tomlin is approaching his 19th season in Pittsburgh.

But according to Jay Gruden, it might be time to wonder if year 19 should be his last in the Black and Gold...

Mike Tomlin on the hot seat?

"I think this year it's a little warm for him," Gruden said . "I think a lot of these coaches start out with a warm-hot seat, then see how you do. If Aaron Rodgers doesn't come and Mason Rudolph isn't the answer, you've lost Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. If Justin Fields performs well with the New York Jets somehow, there's going to be some questions about your decision-making at the quarterback spot. They haven't gotten it right yet. They don't have a future that I can see."

The facts are that Mike Tomin and the Pittsburgh Steelers re-upped last offseason, contractually tying themselves together through the 2027 season. Even if Mike Tomlin was an objectively bad coach, given the historical precedent that is the business of the Rooney family, paying a head coach to walk is not in their DNA.

But that doesn't mean that Gruden's message shouldn't be considered. At some point, when you look around and see no playoff wins for what will be a decade in January, a quarterback situation that has seen five different starters in the last three seasons, and the hits to the Steelers' culture, you start to wonder.

Especially when throughout that stretch, the two names that have remained steady at the top are Art Rooney and Mike Tomlin.

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But some people view it from the other side of the coin. They praise Mike Tomlin for his success this decade despite having an aging Big Ben, mixture of Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, and Mason Rudolph for a couple of years and last year's duo of Justin Fields and Russell Wilson.

But Steelers fans, and apparently Jay Gruden, know that 10-7 and first-round exits aren't the standard they were raised to believe in.

So until the playoff wins start rolling in, it's going to continue to get loud for Mike Tomlin.