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Brooke Pryor
On Monday, as the Steelers suffered their fifth straight playoff loss, Mike Tomlin endured chants of “Fire Tomlin.”
PITTSBURGH — For the second time in six weeks, fans at Acrisure Stadium were clamoring for the Loss coach to be fired. Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin.
On Monday night, the “Fire Tomlin” chants began midway through the fourth quarter, as the Houston Texans turned a close defensive game into a resounding 30-6 loss in an AFC Wild Card Round game, marking the Steelers' seventh consecutive playoff loss.
As fans began to leave the stadium after the Texans went up 18 points with Woody Markswho stayed booed incessantly and called for Tomlin's firing during the final minutes of the Steelers' season.
Afterwards, Tomlin was brief in acknowledging fans' frustration.
“When results are not achieved, words are unnecessary,” he said. “It's about what you do or don't do. So, I appreciate the question, but people talk too much in our business. You either do it or you don't.”
With this loss, Tomlin became the first head coach in franchise history to go nine consecutive seasons without a playoff victory. While Tomlin has never had a losing season, his teams have lost their last seven postseason games and have been eliminated in the first round six times.
However, the quarterback Aaron Rodgers He was defiant and firm in his support for the coach 53-year-old, who earned his 193rd regular season win in Week 18 against the Baltimore Ravens. That historic victory tied him with Hall of Fame trainer Chuck Noll for ninth place all time.
“Mike T. has had more success than almost anyone in the league over the last 19 or 20 years,” Rodgers said. “And beyond that, when you have the right guy and the culture is right, you don't think about making a change, but there's a lot of outside pressure and obviously that influences decisions from time to time. But that's not how I would do things or how the league used to be.”
Rodgers not only supported Tomlin, who has led the Steelers for 19 seasons, but also expressed confidence in his former Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur, who is expected to renew his contract with the organization, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Monday. However, following the Packers' 31-27 loss to the Chicago Bears in Saturday's wild-card round, LaFleur's future appeared uncertain as he entered the offseason with just one year left on his contract.
“When I started in the league, there was no talk about whether those coaches were on the line,” Rodgers said. “But the way the league is covered now, with hasty decisions and the credibility given to Twitter pundits and all the TV pundits who make it look like they know what they're talking about, to me it's an absolute joke.
“And for either of those two coaches to be on the line is a reflection of the current state of our partnership and the league, because obviously Matt has done a lot of great things in Green Bay, and we had a lot of success.”
Tomlin enters the offseason with a current contract for two more seasons. The Steelers, who have only had three head coaches since hiring Noll in 1969, must make a decision on Tomlin's contract option for the 2027 season by March 1. Asked about his approach to his future, Tomlin said he didn't have a “long-term mindset.”
“I'm not even thinking about that right now,” he said. “I'm more focused on what happened in this stadium and certainly what we did and what we didn't do. I don't have a long-term mindset right now.”
The defensive captain Cameron Heywardselected 31st overall by the Steelers in 2011, also expressed his support for Tomlin in the face of disgruntled fans.
“I don't care about that noise because they don't know what Mike T. brings to the table,” Heyward said, in a nearly empty locker room late Monday night. “They don't know how hard he goes to prepare each player. They don't know the countless nights that guy spends studying film. The coach is going to do everything he can, but the players have to play better. And in those crucial moments, the players have to deliver.”
While Tomlin remains under contract with the Steelers for the foreseeable future, Rodgers is not. His one-year, $13.65 million contract is set to expire, making the 42-year-old quarterback a free agent for the second time in his career.
Rodgers stated on “The Pat McAfee Show” over the summer that he was “pretty sure” the 2025 season would be his last, although he recently left open the possibility of returning. Rodgers said Monday night that the loss in the wild-card round, in which he completed just 17 of 33 attempts for 146 yards, with an interception that resulted in a touchdown and a fumble that also resulted in a touchdown, would not affect his decision.
“I'm not going to make any impulsive decisions.”said. “Right now, it's obviously been a really fun year. A lot of adversity, but also a lot of fun. It's been an overall great year in my life, and this is a really big part of it, coming here and being a part of this team. So it's disappointing to be here with the season over.”
Rodgers added that the process for determining his future involves “getting away for a while and then having the right conversations.”
Heyward, who is also in the final stretch of his career, preferred not to comment on Rodgers' future, but expressed gratitude for the opportunity to play with the quarterback.
“If the number 8 wants to come back, he has the right to do so,” Heyward said. “I would like to see him back, but I'm not going to make that decision. It wouldn't be fair to the Steelers or to him. I have a lot of respect for the organization and for Aaron.
“He's earned my respect for everything he's been through this year. And he's an outstanding teammate. I'm very grateful to have been able to play with this quarterback.”
With this loss, the Steelers became the first team in NFL history to lose five consecutive playoff games by a double-digit margin, according to ESPN Research.
