Mike Tomlin is stepping down.
Tomlin, the coach whom the late Steelers chairman Dan Rooney billed as the man to lead the Steelers into the future after the departure of Bill Cowher in 2007, won the Super Bowl in his second season as Steelers coach. He went to another Super Bowl just a few years later.
He won one, lost the other.
But since then, the Steelers have been nowhere near the top of the heap in the NFL, save for an AFC Championship appearance after the 2016 season.
The Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since the team defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in January 2017. They lost the AFC Championship game to the New England Patriots one week later, on Jan. 22, 2017.
On Monday Night Football, Jan. 12, 2026, the Steelers had more than 70,000 terrible towel-waving fans in Acrisure Stadium for the home playoff game against the Houston Texans.
The fans left the stadium dejected, as the Steelers failed to score a touchdown in an embarrassing 30-6 loss.
Tomlin, who has been the model for not only what a Black head coach should be in the NFL, but a head coach in general, was looked at throughout the league as a mentor, someone you want to be like. He never had any scandals. His players respected him. Players wanted to play for him. Black assistant coaches throughout the league wanted to reach his status as an NFL head coach.
Tomlin lasted 19 years as the head man in Pittsburgh. But on Tuesday, Jan. 13, he stepped down as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He leaves the post with a record of 193-114-2. However, he was 8-12 in the postseason and lost his last seven playoff games.
MIKE TOMLIN AND CAM HEYWARD SHARE A HUG. (PHOTO BY BRIAN COOK SR.)