Mike Tomlin on hot seat? Coach offers legitimate reason why Steelers fans are justified calling for his head

Mike Tomlin was inevitably asked about fans chanting for him to be fired during the Steelers’ 26-7 loss to the Bills this past Sunday, a loss that dropped Pittsburgh to 6-6 entering Sunday’s showdown with the Ravens for first place in the AFC North. 

While the question was expected, Tomlin’s answer was anything but. 

“You know, in general, I agree with them,” Tomlin said. “From this perspective: football is our game. We’re in the sport entertainment business. And so if you root for the Steelers, entertaining them is winning. And so when you’re not winning, it’s not entertaining. And if you’ve been in this business, you understand that. And so I respect it. I share frustrations. I understand what makes this thing go and winning is what makes this thing go.”

Tomlin, who was smiling while giving the above response, was incredibly transparent during his longer than usual weekly press conference. An example of that was his response when asked if the Steelers have found an identity. 

“Yeah, 6-6, and I don’t like it,” he said. 

Tomlin acknowledged that the Steelers haven’t been good lately (they’ve lost five of their last seven games), but he made it clear that he hasn’t lost confidence in his team or in himself.

“It’s no different than what you guys do,” Tomlin said. “You guys might write a bad article or a couple of bad articles. Does it lessen your confidence in your ability to write articles the next time? I imagine it doesn’t because you’ve been doing it all your adult lives, and it’s the same for us as individuals or collective in this business. Certainly, our last performance wasn’t up to snuff, but I don’t know that it lessens our belief in self or our ability to deliver individually and collectively moving forward.”

Tomlin stayed with the writer analogy when asked if the Steelers’ recent struggles have forced him to reevaluate how he does his job. 

“Do you when you write a bad article?” Tomlin asked. “It certainly does, because if you’ve got a desire to be great, you better analyze things in a really critical way. And I think that’s what you’re asking. And certainly, if winning is our agenda, and it is. We’re not going to be hypersensitive to that.” 

Tomlin said that while changes will be made “out of necessity,” there will be no significant changes to the responsibilities of his assistant coaches. He also did not allude to any possible significant roster changes. 

Tomlin alluded to Pittsburgh’s .500 record again when asked about his team’s physicality (a major point of emphasis this offseason) entering Sunday’s game against a Ravens team that ran for 299 yards during its win over the Steelers in January’s wild card playoff matchup. 

“Based on the last performance, not so good, but certainly at different times in this journey, I felt really good about it,” he said. “And so I think that could describe a lot of conversations, as I mentioned earlier, when you’re sitting at 6-6, for us, it’s about absorbing that and understanding that, and plotting our course moving forward, but also understanding that the things that happen to us don’t are not vacuum related. … I’d imagine Baltimore’s got similar challenges and issues, because they’re sitting at 6-6 as well. And so the team that can manage those things and summon up the good in a more, really consistent way, has a chance to control this game this weekend.”

While Tomlin may agree with those calling for his job now, he doesn’t anticipate that being the case when the 2025 season is said and done. Tomlin’s track record of resurrecting seemingly lost seasons would suggest that he and the Steelers are about to go on another unexpected run. 

Typically, when faced in similar situations, Tomlin’s teams have increased their level of physicality and execution while making the critical big plays that often dictates who wins and who losses. The Steelers also typically lean into their strengths on both sides of the ball while either eliminating or minimizing the things that could be considered weaknesses. 

Furthermore, the Steelers have usually received elevated play from individuals, such as Le’Veon Bell (in 2013 and ’16), Ryan Shazier (2016), Minkah Fitzpatrick (2019), T.J. Watt (2021), Kenny Pickett (2022) and Mason Rudolph (2023), among others. 

Steelers’ notable in-season turnarounds under Tomlin 

As you can see, Tomlin’s ability to get his team respond to adversity is well-documented. But while it has led to some salvaged regular seasons, it has largely failed to lead to playoff success. 

Tomlin will surely receive more outside criticism if Pittsburgh’s current playoff drought (which is currently at eight years) doesn’t end this January. But before he and the players can get to that point, they first have to win enough of the remaining five games on their regular-season schedule, starting with Sunday’s showdown in Baltimore. 

Speaking of the players, Tomlin feels that he once again has a team that can rise above its current adversity. 

“I think the basic premise that we start with in terms of assembling a group, whether it’s draft or free agency, is we like good men who happen to be good at football,” he said. “Secondarily, we like men who absolutely love football. We believe that those two attributes really lend itself to the discussion that you asked about. The ability to assess, the ability to absorb, the ability to dig in when things get difficult, I think are a little bit easier when you’ve got good people, and when you’ve got people that love what it is they do.”