Mike Tomlin’s response was curious.
After all, the 19-year Pittsburgh Steelers head coach has long been intentional with his words. He’s long mastered the art of messaging, his public comments often sending indirect messages to his locker room.
Advertisement
On Tuesday, though, that message came with a helping of ambiguity.
Tomlin was speaking with reporters two days after the Steelers’ 26-7 home loss to the Buffalo Bills. He was asked about coaching in a stadium amid audible “Fire Tomlin” chants.
What’s it like for Tomlin to guide his team over the din of calls for his job?
“In general, I agree with them,” Tomlin began. “From this perspective: football is a game. We are 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.”
Advertisement
Tomlin concluded: “And so I respect it, I share their frustrations, I understand what makes this thing go and winning is what makes this thing go.”
A coach holding himself to a winning standard is nothing new.
For Tomlin, preaching the necessity of winning is perhaps even less surprising: He survived 18 years as Steelers head coach without his squad ever finishing with a losing record.
And yet, at 6-6, facing the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday for the AFC North lead, the Steelers are in danger of snapping that streak.
Their defense will need to defend dual-threat Lamar Jackson far more surely than the Steelers fared last week against dual-threat Josh Allen and the Bills’ 26 unanswered points. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers will need to rediscover an offensive rhythm, too, despite playing with a broken left wrist on his non-throwing arm that sidelined him for one week and restricted him last week from fielding snaps under center.
Advertisement
For Tomlin, who appeared to lead the charge on recruiting the now 42-year-old quarterback, all of this begs the question about whether his marriage with the Steelers will continue to make sense.
As the questions intensify, and Tomlin himself is acknowledging that “Fire Tomlin” chants warrant at least some agreement from him, it’s worth considering: Will the Steelers and Tomlin decide it’s time for something new?
And if so, could an already head-coach-less team 360 miles east benefit?
The New York Giants, and quarterback Jaxson Dart, should hope so.
Jaxson Dart and Mike Tomlin are what each other need
Few should question Tomlin’s ability to establish a culture, impose a schematic edge and check the oft-discussed box of “leader of men.” His two Super Bowl appearances, including a Lombardi Trophy from the 2008 NFL season, will highlight his legacy.
Advertisement
The Steelers’ 12 playoff berths in Tomlin’s 18 full seasons also confirm Tomlin’s winning track record.
But the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since the 2016 season.
Their exact challenges have shifted, but their top missing piece has remained: a quarterback.
Enter the Giants, stage right.
Could Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers part ways if this season goes south? (Photo by Mark Alberti/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Giants fired head coach Brian Daboll 10 games into this season after a 20-40-1 (.336) record in 3 1/2 years. But they’re widely viewed as the most attractive opening of the coming offseason — not only between the Giants and Tennessee Titans, who have already dismissed their head coaches, but also between teams most likely to join that group. The Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins and Las Vegas Raiders are among teams whose finishes could determine whether they join that list. None would present a more attractive opening than the Giants.
Advertisement
The Giants’ ownership, location and existing talent contribute to that. Dart is Line 1.
The Giants selected the Ole Miss product 25th overall in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. They turned over the keys to him on Sept. 28 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
New York has only won two games in his eight starts (a concussion sidelined him additional weeks), but Dart has displayed tantalizing potential.
He’s completed 63.6% of pass attempts for 1,556 yards, 11 touchdowns and three interceptions. The physical quarterback has rushed for another 337 yards and seven scores.
Like Patriots 2024 draft pick Drake Maye last year, Dart’s potential extends far beyond his current win record. What he needs most, as his concussion concerns and frequent hits show, is a coach who can instill in him a healthy sense of danger.
Advertisement
No, the Giants should not (and probably could not) rid Dart of his competitive nature that has juiced the entire franchise.
But Daboll’s inability to protect Dart from himself cost the coach the coach’s job.
Tomlin, who has reined in players from Antonio Brown to now Rodgers on different fronts, has demonstrated that ability.
Patriots’ success should compel Giants to pursue Tomlin
The Giants’ series of fourth-quarter collapses this season seem to send mixed messages. Is this a shallow roster too injured to win? (Receiver Malik Nabers and running back Cam Skattebo are among players who suffered season-ending injuries.) Or are they a talented roster that needs a bit more mental toughness and the seemingly cliché education on how to win?
Advertisement
The Patriots made a bet closer to the latter when they hired a proven Mike Vrabel to elevate a roster that needed a coach but not a quarterback.
In Vrabel’s first year, they have rebounded from 4-13 to a league-best 11-2.
Don’t be surprised if Tomlin could produce similar results.
Tomlin’s availability, of course, is the major elephant in this room. He’s under contract in Pittsburgh through the 2027 NFL season, and many close to the Steelers believe the Rooney family would not fire him.
This is not an exact parallel to Vrabel, whom the Titans had fired a year earlier, nor Andy Reid, who joined the Chiefs after the Philadelphia Eagles fired him for finishing 4-13 in his 14th season.
Advertisement
But if the Rooneys are also ready for change, or if Tomlin can convince them it’s time to change, many in the league believe the Tomlin-Giants marriage makes too much sense. Coach and franchise have what the other needs.
The Giants might need to consider whether they’d part with a draft pick for Tomlin after already trading back into the first round for Dart. Perhaps the Rooneys would let Tomlin walk as a thank you for his 19 years of service. Or perhaps the Mara and Rooney families, long close as some of football’s original owners, could reach an agreement. The Denver Broncos dealt a 2023 first-round pick and a 2024 pick swap for Sean Payton and have only stood to benefit from it.
Advertisement
All of this seems to predicate on Tomlin’s willingness to spark the change.
That’s far from a done deal, with four games to play and a division title still within the reach.
But Sunday’s AFC North title-relevant game could be the next domino for Tomlin’s future.
And in choosing to partially endorse fans’ “Fire Tomlin” chant, perhaps the Steelers coach himself is cracking the door open for an exit.
“In general,” Tomlin said of the chants, “I agree with them.”
