Mike Tomlin isn’t making any coaching plans right now, but he isn’t shutting the door, either.
The former Steelers head coach said during a conference call with NBC correspondents ahead of Pittsburgh’s Week 10 road game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday Night Football that he has not spent any time seriously thinking about a return to the sideline. Tomlin will be at the game as part of NBC’s “Football Night in America” crew, and for now, that’s where his focus remains.
“I haven’t given one iota of thought to coaching,” Tomlin said. “I’m sure some of that is going to come up in the not-so-distant future. But I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.”
Tomlin’s coaching résumé in Pittsburgh already looks like one that belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He spent 19 years as the Steelers’ head coach before stepping down after the 2025 campaign, and he never finished a season with a losing record. His regular-season mark with the team was 193-114-2.
The postseason finish to his Steelers tenure was rough, with Pittsburgh dropping seven straight playoff games under Tomlin. Even so, that stretch doesn’t erase the rest of what he accomplished. He led the Steelers to a Super Bowl XLIII win in 2008 and added seven more playoff victories across 13 total trips to the postseason.
Tomlin is tied with Chuck Noll for the ninth-most head coaching wins in NFL history, a place that keeps his name among the game’s most accomplished leaders whether he ever coaches again or not.
If he does decide to return in 2027, 2028 or later, there’s still a question hanging over Pittsburgh: would the Steelers be able to trade his rights and get something back in return? The New Orleans Saints did that with Sean Payton after the 2021 season before he was hired by the Denver Broncos in 2023, but it’s not clear whether Pittsburgh could do the same.
If the Steelers still hold Tomlin’s contractual rights, they could potentially land a first-round pick, or more, from the team that hires him. That kind of return would matter for a franchise that may be looking to help its pursuit of a franchise quarterback.
And even if Pittsburgh can’t make that kind of deal, Tomlin’s next stop would still matter to the Steelers if he lands in the AFC, where they could end up seeing him regularly.
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