After 19 seasons during which he never posted a losing record, Mike Tomlin is out as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The team announced the 53-year-old coach’s departure in a statement on Tuesday — a day after the team suffered a 30-6 blowout loss at home to the Houston Texans in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs.
“During our meeting today, coach Tomlin informed me that he has decided to step down as our head coach,” a statement from team president Art Rooney said.
“Obviously I am extremely grateful to Mike for all the hard work, dedication and success we have shared over the last 19 years. It is hard for me to put into words the level of respect and appreciation I have for coach Tomlin.
“He guided our 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.”
What is Tomlin’s record as a coach?
In his 19 years at the helm of the iconic franchise, Tomlin had a regular-season record of 193-114-2. However, his team has struggled in the playoffs and hasn’t won a post-season game since 2016. Monday night’s loss brought Tomlin’s playoff losing streak to seven games.
The 53-year-old coach reportedly has at least one offer for a job on TV should he decide to totally call it quits on coaching. He also could potentially interview for one of the eight current head-coaching vacancies in the NFL.
Tomlin also becomes the third of the four AFC North coaches to either lose or leave their job this off-season. The Cleveland Browns earlier parted ways with two-time coach of the year Kevin Stefanski, while Super Bowl winner John Harbaugh was fired by the Baltimore Ravens after losing the regular-season finale against the Steelers.
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti was asked on Tuesday if Tomlin — a longtime rival – would be a candidate for his team’s open position.
“Holy s—, Mike, wouldn’t that be awesome?” Bisciotti said with a laugh. “Only if John takes the Pittsburgh job.”
WARNING: Language
The owner then joked that Tomlin’s celebration following their Week 18 matchup “disqualified him” from bring in the running, but ultimately shared that he has admired the coach for a long time.
Rodgers storms off stage after Tomlin question
During Monday’s post-game news conference, Aaron Rodgers cut his session short after a question about Tomlin’s future.
The Steelers quarterback swore and stormed off stage during his Q&A session with reporters after receiving a second straight question about Tomlin’s future with the team.
“I’ve answered that a number of times,” Rodgers said. “I’ve talked extensively about how I feel about Mike — and I just did in that f—ing answer, so.”
WARNING: Language
The four-time NFL MVP then stood up and walked off the stage.
Why was he frustrated?
Rodgers’ outburst came directly after he gave an impassioned answer to a question in which he backed Tomlin and his former coach in Green Bay, Matt LaFleur, who has been criticized heavily after the Packers’ playoff loss to the Chicago Bears on Saturday.
“The way that the league is covered now and the way that there’s snap decisions and the validity given to the Twitter experts and all the experts on TV now who make it seem like they know what the hell they’re talking about, to me that’s an absolute joke,” Rodgers said. “And for either those two guys to be on the hot seat is really apropos of where we’re at as a society and a league …
“Mike T. has had more success than damn near anybody in the league for the last 19, 20 years. 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.”