Mike Tomlin of the Steelers leaves a press meeting in the middle of a question about his deal.
After the Steelers lost to the Bills in the wild-card playoffs on Monday, head coach Mike Tomlin wouldn’t say anything about what was to come with the team.
It was hard for the Steelers to tackle Bills players, and their attack did not work well most of the time. “Mike, you still have an entire year left in your contract—” the reporter asked. The head coach got up from the stage and looked around.
After the Bills beat the Steelers 31–17, things got heated. Josh Allen threw for 203 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 74 yards and a touchdown of 52 yards.
As the Steelers started to have trouble in the latter part of their season, there was more talk about Tomlin’s future with the team. They won the final three matches of the season to just barely make the playoffs.
During the season, Pittsburgh had a lot of problems. Wideouts Diontae Johnson, as well as George Pickens, started fighting with each other. The team also fired Matt Canada, who was the offensive coordinator, during the season.
Tolstoy is the latest in a long line of great Steelers teachers. After taking in for Bill Cowher, he won the Super Bowl within his second year.
As a teacher, Tomlin is often known for the carefully chosen words he uses. He didn’t say anything about the reports. His players, on the other hand, had lots.
In 1992, Cowher took across for Chuck Noll. Since 1969, Noll had been the boss and they had won four Super Bowls.
The Steelers received the best coaching of any team. That, along with the fact that the team has three starting players, makes the season a lot harder.
The Pittsburgh Steelers coach left the guests’ press room at Highmark Stadium when someone asked him, “Mike, you have a year remaining on your contract.”
This happened after their loss to the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card round on Monday night. Even though Tomlin is under contract until the 2024 season, there is a lot of talk about his future with the team after the NFL-record 17 straight winning seasons as head coach.
As he has done at the end of each previous season, Tomlin, who is 51 years old, will likely talk about his future in his family as well as Steelers proprietor Art Rooney II as the team heads into the summer.
“That’s above my wage grade,” defensive end Patrick Peterson said in response to a question about how unclear the Steelers’ summer would be. “I love it here, I know it.”
I love everything Coach T has done to get us excited about playing and set us up to win. I’m sure he’s the right person for the job. Cameron Heyward, a defensive end in his 13th NFL season who fought groin problems, also pushed for Tomlin’s return.
“I feel like Mike is going to be back, yet that’s not the decision,” Heyward stated. “I’m not going to talk for him.” You know what? I believe this group as a whole is strong enough to win the Super Bowl.
He added, “We put a lot into it, he worked so much into it, and I simply believe every player involved wouldn’t have achieved anything without Mike T.” when asked about Tomlin’s part in getting the Steelers into the playoffs.
Without Mike T., this team would not be able to even make it to the playoffs. I don’t want to act for any other teacher because he holds us all responsible.
But in the first half against Buffalo, the Steelers were down 21-0, mostly because of mistakes on defense and two turnovers.
Tomlin led the team through a rough season in which offensive coordinator Matt Canada was fired in the middle of the season, Heyward, quarterback Kenny Pickett, top safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, and two starting inside linebackers all got hurt badly.
The Steelers turned around a three-game losing streak under Tomlin’s direction and earned the No. 7 seed in the AFC. The team won three straight games to end the regular season after Mason Rudolph was put in as the starting quarterback.
Pitt running back Najee Harris said, “Mike T is a great coach.” “But we can’t count on Mike T. You have to look at the players sometimes. You can’t always even see the teachers. “Just look at the players; we didn’t do anything.”
The team worked hard to get Tomlin the job, but Harris hinted that there might have been some talk going on behind the scenes.
Harris made it clear that the trainers weren’t the issue. Instead, he wants changes made to the team’s system and rules.