Mike Tomlin ends his 19-year tenure as Steelers coach by stepping down
Pittsburgh Following a 19-year tenure in which he never had a losing season, Mike Tomlin has announced his resignation as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Tomlin's decision was made public by the Steelers on Tuesday afternoon, who stated that his performance "will likely never be duplicated."
One day after Pittsburgh was eliminated from the playoffs with a 30-6 loss to the Texans in the AFC wild-card round, Tomlin, who has two years left on his contract, told the Steelers players of his intention to leave during their meeting on Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET.
"Coach Tomlin informed me that he has decided to step down as our Head Coach during our meeting today," Steelers president Art Rooney II wrote in a statement. "Obviously, I am extremely grateful to Mike for all the hard work, dedication and success we have shared over the last 19 years."
The 53-year-old Tomlin departs Pittsburgh with the remarkable achievement of leading the team without a losing season in almost 20 years. In a Week 18 victory over the Ravens that secured the AFC North championship, he equaled Chuck Noll for seventh place with 193 regular-season victories after winning his 200th NFL game against the Lions in Week 16.
With Tomlin's departure, the Steelers will begin the search for just their fourth head coach since 1969. Tomlin signed an extension in 2024 that could've kept him with the team through the 2027 season, including a club option that had a decision date of March 1, 2026.
Because Tomlin resigned while still under contract, the Steelers will retain his coaching rights and could negotiate compensation if he returns to an NFL sideline before the end of the 2027 season.
Before his resignation, Tomlin was the longest-tenured head coach of a single North American professional sports franchise.
"It is hard for me to put into words the level of respect and appreciation I have for Coach Tomlin," Rooney said in his 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. His track record of never having a losing season in 19 years will likely never be duplicated.
"My family and I, and everyone connected to Steelers management, are forever grateful for the passion and dedication Mike Tomlin has devoted to Steelers football."
For all his accomplishments, Tomlin ended his historic tenure in Pittsburgh with a frustrating nine-year postseason victory drought. Despite winning a Super Bowl, two conference championships and seven division titles, Tomlin's teams went a cumulative 8-12 in postseason play. His last postseason win was an 18-16 victory against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2016.
The Steelers followed up that win over the Chiefs with a 36-17 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, their last conference title game appearance. Since then, the Steelers have been one-and-done in six postseason appearances, and they've been outscored 131-58 in their last three wild-card losses.
Just after 11 p.m., Tomlin and Aaron Rodgers left the field, went down the field-level steps, and vanished into the tunnel as supporters reignited calls to fire the coach. Tomlin's final game in Pittsburgh ended with choruses of jeers.
"When you don't get it done, words are cheap," Tomlin remarked in response to a query regarding his post-game message to supporters. "What you do or don't do is what matters. I'm grateful for the inquiry, but in our business, people talk too much. Either you do or you don't.
At his postgame news conference Monday night, Tomlin offered little assurance that he would return to the Steelers, a departure from his message after previous season-ending losses. Players, though, supported their head coach in the aftermath of the loss, including Rodgers, who signed a one-year contract in May 2025.
"Mike T has had more success than damn near anybody in the league for the last 19, 20 years," 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."
Longtime defensive captain Cameron Heyward, drafted at No. 31 by the Steelers in 2011, also stumped for Tomlin in the face of external noise.
"I don't really care about that noise because they don't know what Mike T puts into this," an emotional Heyward said, standing in a nearly empty locker room late Monday night. "They don't know how he goes out of his way to prepare every man. They don't know about the countless nights that man is in there studying film. Coaching is only going to do so much, players have to play better. And in those critical moments, players are going to step up."
Marked by improbable wins and hard-to-fathom losses, Tomlin's final season was a microcosm of his nearly two-decade tenure in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh began the 2025 season with a 4-1 start and a two-game lead in a division plagued by serious injuries following an unconventional Steelers offseason that saw the high-profile acquisitions of Rodgers, wide receiver DK Metcalf, and cornerback Jalen Ramsey. However, a difficult run that included crushing defeats to the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers as well as an unexpected triumph over the Indianapolis Colts began with a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 7.
During the second half of the 26-7 loss to the Bills, fans loudly voiced their disapproval of Tomlin. "Fire Tomlin" shouts packed Acrisure Stadium, and Styx's Steelers song "Renegade" was drowned out by jeers.
The Steelers rebounded from the Week 13 loss against the Bills with three consecutive wins against the Ravens, Dolphins and Lions to avoid a losing season and put themselves in the divisional driver's seat.
An unconventional hire when he took over the head coach position in 2007 following a one-year stint as the Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator, Tomlin had near-instant success in Pittsburgh.
At 36, he won Super Bowl XLIII in his second season and, at the time, was the youngest head coach to raise the Lombardi Trophy. (Sean McVay was a younger 36 when his Rams won Super Bowl LVI in February 2022.) Tomlin returned to the Super Bowl a year later but fell to Rodgers' Green Bay Packers. He never made it back in his final 15 seasons as head coach.
Known for his hard-hitting defenses and continuing the Steelers' organizational tradition of dominant run games, Tomlin struggled to find consistency at quarterback following Ben Roethlisberger's retirement in 2022. The Steelers drafted Kenny Pickett with a 2022 first-round pick, but the Pitt product was traded away after two seasons.
Over the previous five seasons, the Steelers have had five different Week 1 starting quarterbacks, including Roethlisberger's final season as a starter.
Tomlin became the first head coach in franchise history to go nine straight seasons without a postseason victory with the loss to the Texans. Tomlin finished 10-7 in each of his final three seasons. The team's longest postseason losing skid in the Super Bowl era is nine seasons without a playoff victory. Additionally, the Steelers became the first club in NFL history to lose five consecutive postseason games by double digits.
