Mike Tomlin Steps Down as Steelers HC, Who Are Top Replacements?

Mike Tomlin's time with the Pittsburgh Steelers is over.

"During our meeting today, Coach Tomlin informed me that he has decided to step down as our Head Coach," Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a statement. "Obviously, I am extremely grateful to Mike for all the hard work, dedication and success we have shared over the last 19 years."

Tomlin said the decision came "after much thought and reflection."

The Steelers will now join the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns as fellow AFC North sides looking for a new coach.

Pittsburgh figures to be an appealing landing spot for some of the top names, and the Steelers will undoubtedly make calls to the likes of Mike McDaniel, Kevin Stefanski and Kliff Kingsbury, among others.

Whether John Harbaugh would have interest in joining his longtime rival will be a point of speculation in the coming days as the Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants, Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans all attempt to court him.

Fans in the Steel City have been calling for a coaching change across multiple seasons. While the Steelers had yet to post a losing record under Tomlin, their last playoff win was in 2016. He continued to do just enough to warrant keeping his job and little more than that.

That finally shifted in 2025.

The wheels came off for the Steelers following a 4-1 start and their 10-7 record flattered them a bit. They finished with a bottom 10 offense and defense in terms of yardage. Spending the entire offseason fixated on Aaron Rodgers backfired as the 42-year-old increasingly showed his age. And it didn't look great for Tomlin that wide receiver George Pickens thrived immediately after leaving Pittsburgh.

By early December, even Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger was ready for something different.

"Maybe it's a clean house time. Maybe it is. Maybe it's time," he said on his Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger podcast. "And I like coach Tomlin, I have a lot of respect for coach Tomlin. But maybe it's best for him, too. Maybe a fresh start for him is what's best."

There's certainly a risk that the Tomlin skeptics aren't fully appreciating the consistency he delivered, and you have to go back generations to when the franchise truly bottomed out. The last time Pittsburgh won fewer than five games was 1969, Chuck Noll's first year.

A lot of fanbases would love to have the kind of floor the Steelers enjoy.

At 53, Tomlin is a year younger than Andy Reid was in his final year with the Philadelphia Eagles. Think about how much Reid has achieved since he landed on his feet with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2013.

But there comes a point when winning nine or 10 games doesn't cut it anymore. Tomlin had a long time to deliver a breakthrough and continually fell short, often in exactly the same manner.

Coaches are no different from players. They can lose their touch over time, and past success counts for less and less.

Tomlin once knew how to push all of the right buttons. The way in which he managed a locker room that included Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster only looks more impressive in retrospect.

Now, his methods simply aren't as effective.

The changes for the Steelers this offseason won't stop with Tomlin's departure.

Pittsburgh will likely need a new starting quarterback in 2026. With the free-agent class looking barren at the position, the front office has to nail its scouting of college QBs in the draft.

Wide receiver is another positional weakness despite the arrival of DK Metcalf. It's a similar story at cornerback after signing Darius Slay didn't work out.

The list of priorities for general manager Omar Khan will be long, and no decision will be more important than identifying the right replacement for Tomlin.