Steelers Mike Tomlin Refused To Make Defensive Line Decisions In Shocking Claim

The Pittsburgh Steelers are entering a new era after former head coach Mike Tomlin decided to step down from his role with the team following another embarrassing playoff loss at the end of the 2025 season. This sent the organization on a hunt for its next head coach, which is a big deal as the franchise has only had three different men lead the team since 1969, and all have won at least one Super Bowl with the team. It is usually a defensive coach that is hired, but the organization went in a different direction and decided to hire Mike McCarthy.

McCarthy has won a Super Bowl himself as he took down the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, but now he is trying to bring the seventh Lombardi Trophy to Pittsburgh. He is filling some big shoes with Tomlin stepping down, but the former head coach fell out of favor with a lot of fans as the lack of playoff success over the last decade has certainly weighed on his reputation. A lot of questionable decisions over the last decade or so have also made fans question Tomlin. Questionable moves have included hiring decisions, Matt Canada being one of them, as he has still not returned to coaching since being fired halfway through the 2023 season. It was also highly controversial how long Tomlin kept him on staff.

Other questionable decisions involved personnel on the field. Most recently, Keeanu Benton's position was a hot topic. He was always played at nose tackle, when he clearly found more success at defensive end. Former Steelers defender Breiden Fehoko recently took to social media, and he absolved Tomlin of any wrong doing. He revealed what really went on behind those decisions.

According to Fehoko, Tomlin did not make the decisions on who played where on the defensive line, and he didn't even make the final decision on who made the 53-man roster. This is almost worst than just playing a guy out of position. It is okay to take some insight and ask questions of your position coaches, but giving them complete autonomy is a bizarre practice for a head coach in the NFL.

This is especially hard to hear for Steelers fans when considering how poor the run defense has been over the last several years. Benton was often outmatched at nose tackle and it is not his strong suit, yet he continued to be played there at times and struggled. The entire defensive line struggled, and Tomlin wasn't even the one making the calls. That seemingly fell on former DL coach Karl Dunbar. It is okay to trust your coaching staff, but it evident changes needed to be made by Tomlin, and he never made them. Head coaches get paid the big bucks to make those decisions and make certain changes.

Dunbar was one of the coaches that was suspected to be a reason the messaging got stale in the locker room under Tomlin, and he seemingly also contributed to the struggles on the defensive line. It doesn't all fall on him as the head coach needs to know when to step in, but things could have gone differently had Dunbar taken a different approach on the defensive line.

Steelers Already Making The Appropriate Changes Under Mike McCarthy

The Steelers have made some changes since Tomlin stepped down, and McCarthy and his staff released their first depth chart on Wednesday evening. McCarthy has said this is unofficial and not to read too far into it, but one noticeable change is that Benton is now listed as a defensive end, as he should be. Yahya Black is listed as the starting nose tackle, while Derrick Harmon and Cam Heyward start alongside him. Benton is listed as a backup end, but he will probably play just as many snaps as the starters. Good defensive lines rotate to keep everyone fresh.

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