Head coach Mike Tomlin is leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers after 19 seasons, the team confirmed on Tuesday.
“Obviously, I am extremely grateful to Mike for all the hard work, dedication and success we have shared over the last 19 years. It is hard for me to put into words the level of respect and appreciation I have for Coach Tomlin,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a statement. “He guided the franchise to our sixth Super Bowl championship and made the playoffs 13 times during his tenure, including winning the AFC North eight times in his career.”
Rooney added that the decision was ultimately down to Tomlin, saying the head coach had “decided to step down”.
Tomlin released his own statement shortly afterwards. “I am deeply grateful to Art Rooney II and the late Ambassador [Dan] Rooney for their trust and support,” Tomlin said. “I am also thankful to the players who gave everything they had every day, and to the coaches and staff whose commitment and dedication made this journey so meaningful.”
The 53-year-old leaves the Steelers never having recorded a losing season during his long tenure with the team, but Pittsburgh’s loss to the Houston Texans on Monday night extended a streak of playoff losses, and there were scattered chants of “Fire Tomlin” from the home crowd. Tomlin’s Steelers last won a playoff game in the 2016 season.
However, he still appeared to have the support of the locker room. After Monday’s loss, several players went out of their way to express their faith in Tomlin.
“Mike T has had more success than damn near anybody in the league for the last 19, 20 years,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “And more than that, though, when you have the right guy and the culture is right, you don’t think about making a change, but there’s a lot of pressure that comes from the outside, and obviously that sways decisions from time to time. But it’s not how I would do things and not how the league used to be.”
During his nearly two decades in charge of the team, Tomlin compiled 193 wins in the regular season, a total that puts him ninth all-time in NFL history and tied with another legendary Steelers head coach, Chuck Noll. He won the Super Bowl in February 2009 in his second season with the Steelers and reached the title game again two years later but lost to the Green Bay Packers.
Although he led his team to the playoffs on a consistent basis afterwards they rarely looked like genuine Super Bowl contenders and Pittsburgh now hope his replacement, who will be just the team’s fourth head coach since 1969, will bring revitalize the franchise.
The first thing the new head coach will need to address is quarterback. The Steelers have not had a high quality starter since Ben Roethlisberger retired after the 2021 season. The team’s starter this past season was Rodgers, and while he did an adequate job in 2025, he is 42 and has hinted he may retire in the coming weeks.
Tomlin’s Steelers contract ran through to the end of the 2027, and the team could be entitled to compensation if he joins another team before then.
“While this chapter comes to a close, my respect and love for the Pittsburgh Steelers will never change,” Tomlin said in his statement. “I am excited for what the future holds for this organization, and I will forever be grateful for my time coaching in Pittsburgh.”
In other coaching moves on Tuesday, Kevin Patullo, who attracted ire from large parts of the Eagles fanbase as the team failed to defend their Super Bowl title, was removed as Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator. The Los Angeles Chargers reacted to their playoff exit by firing offensive coordinator Greg Roman and offensive line coach Mike Devlin. The Chargers offense was ineffective in their playoff loss to the New England Patriots and the offensive line struggled badly with injuries during the season and failed to protect quarterback Justin Herbert.
