SI:AM | Mike Tomlin Says Goodbye to Pittsburgh

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m all for this era of increased player freedom in college sports, but I think it’s a little ridiculous that quarterback TJ Finley is set to play for a seventh school.

In today’s SI:AM:
🤝 Secret to Tomlin’s success
🤔 Potential Steelers candidates
1️⃣ Ranking NFL openings

A total facelift in the AFC North

There was something comfortably familiar about the NFL’s Week 18 Sunday Night Football regular-season finale between the Ravens and the Steelers. Two division rivals met yet again in a game with high stakes on a cold night in Pittsburgh, with John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin patrolling the sidelines, just as they had for the previous two decades. But when Baltimore and Pittsburgh renew the rivalry next season, fans may find the matchup jarringly foreign.

Tomlin decided yesterday to step down as coach of the Steelers after 19 years in charge, following in the footsteps of Harbaugh, whose 18-year run with the Ravens came to an end when he was fired after that Week 18 loss. I’m sure you’ve heard this fact a million times by now, but it’s worth repeating because it’s so remarkable: The Steelers will be hiring just their fourth head coach since 1969.

Tomlin took over in 2007, when Bill Cowher resigned after 15 years at the helm, and his résumé was honestly a bit thin. He’d been a college position coach before being hired to coach defensive backs for the Buccaneers in 2001, a role he held for five years. He then spent one season as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator in 2006 before unexpectedly landing the Steelers job despite not being one of the favorites at the start of the process. He was 34.

Tomlin wasn’t well known when he was first hired, but he quickly proved that the Steelers were right to take a chance on him, leading Pittsburgh to its sixth Super Bowl victory in his second season. He went on to have one of the most remarkable tenures of any coach in NFL history. His team never finished below .500 in any of his 19 seasons.

The problem was that, lately, his teams didn’t finish far above .500, either. The Steelers went 10–7 in each of the last three seasons, and won nine games in the two years before that. They haven’t won a playoff game since 2016 postseason.

The NFL is a league where it can be beneficial to occasionally bottom out and have a total dud of a season. The trouble with never finishing below .500 is you’re always picking in the back half of the first round of the draft, which makes it difficult to acquire elite talent—especially at quarterback. For the first 15 years of his head coaching career, Tomlin had the great Ben Roethlisberger. But since Roethlisberger’s retirement after the 2021 season, the Steelers have struggled to find his replacement. They whiffed on the Kenny Pickett draft pick and have started Mitchell Trubisky, Mason Rudolph and Justin Fields, as well as Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers at the end of their careers. And yet Pittsburgh still reached the playoffs in each of the past three seasons. That should tell you how good a coach Tomlin is.

Tomlin’s success leaves big shoes to fill for whoever becomes his replacement. And the next coach will inherit a tricky situation where success is far from guaranteed. The quarterback uncertainty isn’t the only issue with the roster. As Conor Orr points out, 14 players on the roster are over 30 (not including kicker Chris Boswell). It’s an aging group of veterans who’d grown accustomed to Tomlin’s leadership and now will be asked to start fresh.

Steelers fans could be in for a rude awakening next season. Pittsburgh is one of those rare franchises in sports that is difficult to imagine going through a fallow period. Tomlin’s long period of success bolstered the Steelers’ image as one of the NFL’s great franchises—a team with plenty of history, a respected owner and a reputation for Rust Belt toughness and work ethic. But there’s nothing inherent about the franchise that makes it immune to a potential downturn. Just look at the Giants, another storied franchise that has been languishing at the bottom of the NFC for the better part of a decade. It’s unlikely that the Steelers will find the next Tomlin in this coaching search, but they need to nail the hire to avoid suffering the same fate as New York.

The good news for the Steelers is that the prestige of the job could help lure a top candidate. Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman has been floated as a possible fit. Freeman has repeatedly affirmed his commitment to the school after being rumored for NFL openings in the past, but that was before the Steelers' job opened. Leaving a brand-name school like Notre Dame for a brand-name pro franchise like the Steelers is a lot different than ditching South Bend for the Titans. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, a former Tomlin assistant, is another potential candidate, as well as guys like Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Chargers DC Jesse Minter and Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak, all of whom have had their names surface in connection with nearly every opening this cycle.

As for Tomlin, he’s expected to explore television opportunities before considering a return to the sidelines. He’d be a coveted candidate for any team in search of a new coach, but he has no reason to rush into anything. He can sit back and wait for the right opportunity to arise. In the meantime, he’s earned a little break.

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The top five…

… things I saw last night:
5. Oilers star Leon Draisaitl’s powerful one-timer for a goal against the Predators. (Draisaitl also had two assists in Edmonton’s 4–3 overtime loss after having a goal and two assists in a win over Nashville last week.)
4. Another thunderous dunk by Michigan State’s Coen Carr.
3. Giannis Antetokounmpo booing back at the Bucks crowd during a blowout loss to the Timberwolves. (Milwaukee fell to 17–23 on the season, 11th place in the East.)
2. Victor Wembanyama’s two dunks on Chet Holmgren in the first quarter of the Spurs-Thunder game.
1. John Blackwell’s game-winner at the buzzer for Wisconsin, immediately following a game-tying three by Minnesota’s Cade Tyson.