The Pittsburgh Steelers enter the 2026 offseason with a lot of questions after the news of the departure of their 19-year head coach, Mike Tomlin. The relationship between Tomlin and Steelers fans began to turn ugly in Week 13 during a home loss against the Buffalo Bills. Now the Steelers, notoriously known for hanging on to coaches for long periods of time during their history, will look to find his replacement after nearly two decades of him roaming the sidelines. While the relationship did sour and seemingly boiled over as of late, the Steelers must find a replacement with similar traits.
Matt Freed / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Former Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin looks on in Wild Card Round loss to Houston Texans in 2025 season.
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated spoke with former offensive coordinator, Todd Haley, as well as Arthur Smith, who is in that current role for the Steelers. One intriguing detail about Tomlin that Breer got out of this is that Tomlin possessed the intangibles as a head coach. While schematics and playbooks are certainly important in the sport of football, especially the NFL, Tomlin had a great way of building relationships with his groups. Those groups include not just players, but his coaches and coordinators.
"It just came down to this: he had his own unique relationship with every player and every coach," Smith said in a recent interview. "He’s just a very approachable person. And then he’s got a lot of empathy, and I think he took everybody on, and he saw that person as an individual. And that’s why he had his own relationship with them."
Tomlin is a great NFL head coach. However, his time in Pittsburgh was ticking down to the final sands in the hourglass. Tomlin did bring a lot of success in his time as Steelers head coach, winning a Super Bowl along with eight AFC North division titles.
Associated Press
Steelers' Mike Tomlin holds up the Lamar Hunt trophy after winning the AFC Championship.
However, having not won a playoff game in nine years and just suffering his seventh playoff loss in a row, the divorce between the two sides felt appropriate when Tomlin announced on Tuesday he was stepping away.
Steelers Must Strategically Pursue Their Next Coach
The Steelers pursuit of their new head coach must be done so strategically, as the team is notorious for keeping head coaches around longer than most franchises. Pittsburgh does not like to quickly hire, then fire coaches and that shows as they have only had three different head coaches in the last 54 years of their franchise history. While the departure of Tomlin is a breath of fresh air to many within the fan base, Pittsburgh's next coach has to be a homerun hire.
The Steelers may have benefitted better from Tomlin's decision had it come last year. The Chicago Bears poached Ben Johnson, who was previously the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator, to be their next head coach. The New England Patriots also brought in former linebacker Mike Vrabel, who once played for Pittsburgh. Those two coaches took Chicago and New England from two of the NFL's worst teams in 2024 to division champions in 2025. That is not to suggest there are not homerun hires available. However, the Steelers need to be absolutely certain that whoever they hire is the guy they want long-term.
Adrian Kraus / ap photo
New England Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel celebrates with players after a touchdown against the Buffalo Bills during the second half of a game in 2025 season.
The Steelers must find a replacement with a similar set of traits, but also one that is going to make the situation in Pittsburgh more of a retool than a rebuild. They're going to have big shoes to fill and they better be able to handle a fan base as passionate as Pittsburgh's.
Would you like to see the next Steelers head coach be a great developer of relationships while also quickly turning around this dreadful playoff drought? Who are some of the top candidates you're interested in? Let us know in the comments below, or on our social media platforms!
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