Paul Zeise: Mike Tomlin's 'hot seat' has never even reached lukewarm

Paul Zeise, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Dec 11, 2025

Published in Football

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PITTSBURGH — The Steelers as a collective have come out in defense of Mike Tomlin after they beat the Ravens on Sunday. And many among his legion of national media shills have come to his defense, as well.

Aaron Rodgers said he hopes the win over the Ravens will get everyone criticizing Tomlin to “shut the hell up,” and Ryan Clark went on some weird rant about how Tomlin might actually be underrated.

There were some people outraged after last Sunday, when the Steelers lost to Buffalo. Fans were chanting “Fire Tomlin.” And of course there have been the tired discussions about how he would get a job “in five minutes” if he were fired.

Tomlin was asked about all of this at his Tuesday news conference, and he answered in a way that actually made me chuckle.

“Man, I’ve been in the hot seat for 19 years,” he said. “I always feel like I’ve 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.”

I can absolutely appreciate Tomlin’s insistence that he is motivated to continually prove himself, but those of us who have watched this show play out over the years understand he doesn’t have to prove himself to keep his job, and that is probably the problem.

Art Rooney II will never fire Tomlin, and Tomlin knows this and has known this his entire career. That isn’t the Steelers’ way. It isn’t the way Rooney’s dad did it ,and it isn’t the way his granddad did it, either.

The Steelers don’t fire coaches, which means the only people with more job security than a Steelers coach are Supreme Court justices.

I should add that I don’t necessarily know if Tomlin should be fired or not because there are arguments on both sides I can listen to.

The ridiculous part is he has never felt any heat despite not winning a playoff game since the Killer B’s era, and he won’t after this season which will almost assuredly end with a division title. The AFC North stinks. The Ravens are in shambles, and the Steelers are going to win the division, and that is how Tomlin will be judged by his fanboys in the media. It won’t matter what happens in the playoffs, what will be relevant is the whole “never had a losing season” remains intact.

That is lunacy because I can’t for the life of me think of another organization that would continue to employ a coach who goes nine seasons without a playoff victory. Tomlin has never had a losing season, for sure — unless you count the postseason, where he is 8-11.

Tomlin’s postseason record since he last won the AFC championship game (2010) is 3-10, which means he is the modern day equivalent of Marty Schottenheimer or Marvin Lewis. That isn’t good enough, and it is something that should have put him on the hot seat a few years ago.

The Steelers operate in a way that suggests stability counts more than anything else, and that is just silly. I don’t think in 2025 the discussion should be stability. It should be about results and winning at a higher level than we have seen in recent years.

I am not saying Tomlin would necessarily have better results if he actually did feel some heat from above, but it is amazing the kind of motivator that could be. Tomlin has operated as if he knows all he needs to do is be right around .500, make the playoffs more than he misses, and he will be free to coach as long as he wants.

That is the way the Steelers do things, and Tomlin has taken advantage of them. The amazing thing is the Steelers could actually lose the rest of their games and finish 7-10, and not only would Tomlin be safe, his entire coaching staff would be, too.

Tomlin might decide on his own to sacrifice a coach or two to throw a bone to those demanding change, but that is the extent of it. And if Tomlin didn’t decide to fire anyone, his staff would return despite a season that would be an epic failure.

I like Tomlin as Steelers coach and understand why so many like him as well, but the idea that a Super Bowl he won 17 years ago should give him a lifetime contract is a big reason why this organization seems to be stuck in a cycle of “just above mediocrity” for a number of years.

It is wonderful that they beat the Ravens, but they always seem to beat the Ravens these days (except in the playoffs, when it really counts), but it doesn’t matter to me. In fact, they could go 4-0 down the stretch and finish 11-6 and that wouldn’t matter to me, either.

Tomlin’s hot seat should be about his ability to win in the playoffs this year, and anything short of that should be viewed as a failure. Tomlin can talk about the hot seat he is on, but he knows it is just talk, and people crowing on his behalf because they beat a wounded Ravens team in a regular season game are enablers of the mediocre problem.

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