ESPN NFL Analyst Hints At Mike Tomlin Needing To Be Fired
01/12/2025 11:08 AM
Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers were eliminated from the NFL playoffs on Saturday with a 28-14 Wild Card loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Pittsburgh, which finished the regular season with a 10-7 record, closed out the campaign with five straight losses, including last night. Under Tomlin, who has been the team's head coach since 2007, the Steelers have now lost six straight playoff games dating back to the 2016 AFC Championship Game. It's been eight years since Pittsburgh won a postseason game, a lengthy stretch for one of the league's premier franchises.
The Steelers are notoriously loyal to head coaches, having employed only three of them since 1969. However, the rumblings that perhaps it might be time to move on from Tomlin have been growing louder in recent years, and they picked up again last night.
It's not just frustrated fans saying this either. ESPN analyst and former NFL defensive lineman Booger McFarland hinted on X/Twitter that it might be time for a change in the Steel City.
"Sometimes the voice in the room gets old and stale," McFarland tweeted during Saturday night's game.
Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez also suggested that perhaps Tomlin could use a "change of scenery" during Amazon Prime's coverage of last night's matchup.
It seems unlikely that Pittsburgh would fire Tomlin, but something has to give at some point. Steelers fans are accustomed to playoff success, and we're at almost a decade of them not having any.
"I'm just assessing what transpired tonight," Tomlin said postgame Saturday. "As I told you guys earlier in the week, those are my bags, not this collective's bags. And so my energy is on that group in there and what they were willing to give and the journey that we've been on this year and certainly it came to a disappointing end tonight."
Should be an interesting offseason for the black and gold.
Related: There Are Growing Calls For The Steelers To Fire Mike Tomlin
