Steelers Now
Despite not winning a playoff game in eight years, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is still considered among the best head coaches in the NFL. In Pro Football Focus’ annual rankings, Tomlin came in as the fifth-best head coach in the NFL, behind only John Harbaugh, Sean McVay, Sean Payton and Andy Reid.
“Despite recent criticism about a lack of playoff success, Mike Tomlin still finds a way to squeeze every ounce of execution out of his teams. He still has yet to go through a losing campaign across 18 seasons as Pittsburgh’s head coach, though there have certainly been close calls. Making the postseason in 2024 despite a turbulent quarterback situation is an impressive feat,” Dalton Wasserman of PFF wrote.
“The Steelers’ identity, though, is their defense, which played at an elite level once again in 2024. They ranked fourth in PFF defensive grade and first in PFF pass-rush grade, led by future Hall of Famers T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward. They could use the occasional spurt of offense, though, as they went 8-0 when allowing 18 points or fewer and 2-8 when they allowed 19 or more.”
The top 10 returning head coaches in the NFL today 📊 pic.twitter.com/eCEDHdKXjF
— PFF (@PFF) June 25, 2025
The Steelers averaged just 18.1 points per game in 2022, 17.9 in 2023, and 21.9 in 2024, ranking 26th, 28th, and 20th. They’ve struggled mightily to find a long-term answer at quarterback following Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement in the 2022 offseason.
The Steelers will have a different Week 1 starter for a fifth-straight season: Roethlisberger, Mitch Trubisky, Kenny Pickett, Justin Fields and Aaron Rodgers. Finding a long-term answer at quarterback has been Tomlin’s biggest problem. Perhaps the Steelers will finally find a solution in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The Steelers went over their preseason betting total (8.5 wins) in 2024. It was the fifth consecutive season that Tomlin’s squad has gone over the preseason mark. So in that aspect, Tomlin has overachieved. Just having winning seasons is not good for the Steelers faithful, however, and that is understandable. Tomlin needs to start producing in the playoffs. The Steelers have not had an eight-year playoff win drought since pre-1972.
The Steelers haven’t had a losing season since 2003, which is by far the longest active streak in the NFL. The Steelers are tied for the longest non-losing season streak in NFL history with the Dallas Cowboys’ 21-year run from 1965-85. The Steelers finished 8-8 four times over the past two decades (2006, 2012, 2013 and 2018). The next-longest streak of non-losing seasons is 19 by the New England Patriots. New England never had a below .500 season during their two separate dynasty eras from 2001 to 2019.
Only Tom Landry (21 seasons, 1965-1985) and Bill Belichick (19 seasons, 2001-2019) have more consecutive seasons without a losing record than Tomlin’s 18. Landry had five consecutive losing seasons to start his career with the Dallas Cowboys, while Belichick had losing seasons in Cleveland...
