Art Rooney II of the Steelers Calls Outlandish rumors about Mike Tomlin’s 2024 sabbatical
Mike Tomlin has been the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2007. During his first five seasons in office, the Steelers made two Super Bowl appearances, demonstrating their early success. Pittsburgh is currently on a five-game losing streak in the playoffs and has not returned since. In those playoff losses, the defense has never allowed fewer than 31 points to be scored.
For a variety of reasons, Tomlin received a lot of criticism during the 2023 campaign. Matt Canada’s firing following an ugly loss to the Cleveland Browns alarmed Steeler Nation. The next week, with Kenny Pickett in the lineup, the squad displayed a slight improvement on offense. Tomlin went to Mitch Trubisky when he was knocked out of the Arizona Cardinals game, the first of three straight losses. It was a bad move, and when the Steelers regressed to.500, even the national media started to wonder if the team should keep Tomlin.
With the season on the line, he went to Mason Rudolph, and it worked. After winning three games, the Steelers were able to get into the postseason and play the Buffalo Bills.
When ESPN reporter Brooke Pryor inquired about Tomlin’s future following his Wild Card Round loss, the player stormed out of the postgame news conference. In an interview with Rob King for Steelers.com on Monday, Art Rooney II talked about some of the speculations that had been making the rounds regarding Tomlin’s future.
At the height of the Tomlin criticism in 2023, some of Tomlin’s media allies, including as Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer, hinted that if the two parties split up, it would only be because Tomlin made the decision to go. NFL Network’s Rich Eisen publicly attacked Steeler Nation for having the audacity to want anything more than a never-ending supply of mediocrity. According to Adam Schefter, Tomlin might take a break in 2025 to rejuvenate himself and resume teaching in a different setting.
It appears that Rooney and Tomlin will be together for a long time. Although the specifics of the contract extension are still unknown, Rooney stated at his Monday press conference that one will be forthcoming. A day before to Arthur Smith being appointed by the Steelers as their new offensive coordinator, such affirmations were made.