Mike Tomlin reveals how he feels about Steelers fans having him on the hot seat before regaining control of the AFC North
Mike Tomlin welcomed the criticism before, and he’s going to do it again.
It looked the ship was finally headed for the iceberg on the Southside. The Pittsburgh Steelers dropped two in a row, squandered their significant AFC North lead, and were floundering as a potential playoff team before the Baltimore Ravens game.
That created a decibel-level surrounding Mike Tomlin’s future that we never heard before. Fans openly chanting for his firing against the Buffalo Bills, former Super Bowl champions that he coached calling for his job, and Tomlin himself having to face the music. Perhaps he will have to again at the end of the season, and the win over the Ravens was merely prolonging the issue. However, if you ask Coach Tomlin, he’s unbothered either way.
Mike Tomlin says he’s been on the hot seat for 19 years
“I always feel like I got something to prove, not necessarily to anyone in particular, but that’s just the spirit in which I go about what I do professionally,” said Tomlin during his weekly address on Tuesday via the Pittsburgh Steelers YouTube channel. “I’ve been in the hot seat for 19 years.”
Mike Tomlin isn’t wrong. When he took over for Bill Cowher nearly two decades ago at this point, the expectation was Super Bowls. He delivered, winning one very early on in his tenure before nearly capturing another.
The problem is, local fans tend to believe he rode the coattails of the teams that Bill Cowher and Kevin Colbert built. Because outside of a brief run during the Killer B era, the Steelers under Mike Tomlin haven’t been viewed as a significant Super Bowl contender for almost a decade.
There is an easy correlation, seeing as it was 2016, also nearly a decade, since the last time the Steelers won a playoff game. That, in conjunction with what has been a turbulent season to say the least in 2025, has made Tomlin’s seat the warmest we have seen it.
“Man, I share their frustrations tonight. We didn’t do enough. That’s just the reality of it,” said Mike Tomlin when asked what he thought of the “fire Tomlin” chants after the Bills game via the Pittsburgh Steelers YouTube channel.
The other reality is that Mike Tomlin has an option in his contract for the 2027 season. He’s a lock to be back next season, barring his retirement, but Art Rooney will have to decide in the spring, whether or not he wants Mike Tomlin back as his coach in 2027.
The last month of the season will go a long way in determining that.
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