Former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin broke his silence about his resignation Sunday, citing the team’s lack of playoff success as a major reason he decided to step down.
“There’s a loneliness with leadership. I just thought it was a good time for me, personally. And by that I mean just where I am in life,” Tomlin told NBC Sports’ Maria Taylor.
“And I thought it was a good time for the organization, to be quite honest with you. We didn’t have a lot of success in the playoffs in recent years. There’s just some veteran players there, man – guys like Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt and (Chris) Boswell – that I thought were worthy of the excitement and the optimism associated with new leadership.”
Tomlin was hired by Pittsburgh in 2007 and became the youngest coach in the NFL. He never had a losing season during his tenure with the Steelers, compiling a 193-114-2 regular-season record over 19 years. He won the Super Bowl in his second campaign leading the franchise and secured an AFC championship in his fourth season.
However, Tomlin and the Steelers struggled in the playoffs towards the end of his coaching run. They’re 0-7 in their last seven postseason games dating back to the 2016 season, including a 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans in his final game as head coach.
Tomlin, 54, will now step into the media business. He’s joining NBC Sports’ Football Night in America as a studio analyst for the 2026 campaign.
“I just thought it’d be a great way to stay connected to the game and the awesome people in it – players, coaches, executives,” Tomlin said of his new job. “Excited about doing that on Sunday night and traveling to different venues and getting that feel for the environment. And lastly, I just thought it’d be awesome to share insight with fellow football lovers.”
The Steelers hired veteran coach Mike McCarthy to replace Tomlin a few weeks after his departure. Pittsburgh drafted quarterback Drew Allar in the third round out of Penn State, but the franchise is currently waiting on Aaron Rodgers to inform them if he’ll return as their starting signal-caller.
“If you had a gun to my head, I’d say it’s AR,” Tomlin answered when asked who he thinks will be the Steelers’ starter in 2026. “Being around him for the 12 months I was around him, he’s got a love affair with the game of football. And not only the game, but the process.
“The informal moments. The development of younger guys. The interaction with teammates. I think he has an addiction to that and there’s only one way to feed it. Certainly, he is still capable and in really good shape. So I think at the end of the day, he’ll play football.”
Rodgers, 42, led the Steelers to the playoffs in his first year with the franchise. The other quarterbacks on the roster outside of rookie Allar are Mason Rudolph and 2025 sixth-round pick Will Howard.
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