Mike Tomlin plans to return to Steelers for 18th season as head coach, per report
The Mike Tomlin era for the Pittsburgh Steelers is set to continue.
The NFL's longest-tenured coach has informed his team he will be returning for the 2024 season, NFL Media's Mike Garafolo reported, meaning Tomlin will enter his 18th season in charge of the Steelers.
Tomlin's message to his players comes less than 24 hours after Pittsburgh was eliminated from the NFL playoffs in a wild card round loss to the Buffalo Bills. After the game, Tomlin was asked about him having only one year left on his contract, but he walked off as the reporter was in the middle of the question. NFL Media also reported Tomlin will meet with the media later this week.
Mike Tomlin's tenure in Pittsburgh
Tomlin has enjoyed sustained success in 17 seasons with the Steelers, most notably never having notched a losing regular-season record. Since taking over the head-coaching duties in 2007, Tomlin is 173-100-2 in the regular season with 11 playoff appearances, two Super Bowl berths and one Super Bowl title.
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The Steelers have lost their past four playoff games, however, with the franchise's last postseason win coming in the 2016 divisional round. Frustration has boiled over, with running back Najee Harris saying after Monday's loss that there needs to be in-house changes to the team for the group to succeed.
"But if you want to elevate and get to where we're at, there's got to be some in-house things that need to change," Harris said via Sports Illustrated. "Coach (Tomlin) always tells me just play running back. That's a little inside thing that we have, too. But if you want to elevate where we are and achieve those goals that we want, we have to change some in-house stuff. Like I said, that's not my place, that's not anything that I can control or do anything about that."
Still, Tomlin does have player support, including from four-time All-Pro edge rusher T.J. Watt, who said on Tuesday it was "huge" in his contract talks that he continue to play for Tomlin.
"I don't want to play for anyone other than Mike T," Watt said. "You can see in the way I talk about him, how much I respect and appreciate him as a coach, as a man, as a leader. That's my endorsement for him."