Mike Tomlin isn’t plotting a return to the sideline right now, but he also isn’t shutting the door on it.
Speaking on a conference call with NBC correspondents ahead of the Steelers’ Week 10 road game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday Night Football, Tomlin made it clear that coaching is not on his mind at the moment. He’ll be in attendance for the matchup as part of NBC’s “Football Night in America” crew, and for now he says his focus is elsewhere.
“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.”
That doesn’t mean the conversation is closed forever. Tomlin acknowledged that the subject will likely resurface down the line, even if he’s not entertaining it today.
His Steelers run, which ended after the 2025 campaign, leaves behind a résumé that already looks Hall of Fame-worthy. Over 19 seasons in Pittsburgh, Tomlin never finished with a losing record and posted a 193-114-2 mark in the regular season.
The postseason finish was rough. Pittsburgh dropped seven straight playoff games under Tomlin to close out his tenure. But the bigger picture still includes a Super Bowl XLIII title in 2008, plus seven more playoff wins across 13 trips to the postseason.
That kind of track record puts him in rare company. Tomlin is tied with Chuck Noll for the ninth-most head coaching wins in NFL history, and that standing won’t change whether he ever coaches again or not.
If he does decide to jump back into the coaching carousel in 2027, 2028 or later, there’s another wrinkle to watch: whether the Steelers could trade his rights and get something back in return. The Saints did that with Sean Payton after the 2021 season, before he was hired by the Broncos in 2023, but it’s unclear whether Pittsburgh would be able to do the same.
If the Steelers still hold those contractual rights, the return could be substantial - potentially even a first-round pick or more - and that kind of haul would matter for a team trying to chase a franchise quarterback.
And even if Pittsburgh can’t make a deal, Tomlin’s next stop would still matter. If he lands with an AFC team, the Steelers would be seeing him regularly, which would add another layer to whatever comes next.
In Other News...
Boston College Fans Witnessed A Notre Dame Moment Bigger Than The Game
Dan Hicks had become such a steady presence on Notre Dame broadcasts that his absence was impossible to miss during Saturdays home game against Boston College. Jason Benetti stepped in on NBC and handled play-by-play in Hicks place, a notable change for a booth that Irish fans have associated with Hicks since 2013, when he became the lead voice for Notre Dame home games.
The moment carried extra weight because Hicks died unexpectedly at 64 following an acute illness, ending a long NBC career that stretched back to 1992. Benetti paid tribute to Hicks during the broadcast, turning what might have been a routine substitution into something more reflective, and a reminder that sometimes the most memorable part of a game day has little to do with the scoreboard. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dames Defense Has One Worry Fans Cant Ignore After BYU
Notre Dames defense looked like two different units in its first two major tests, and the contrast was hard to miss. Against Miami, the Irish got the kind of quarterback pressure defensive coordinator Chris Ash wants from his group, and that disruption helped tilt the game their way. It was the cleaner version of the plan, the one that showed how effective the front can be when it gets home and forces the issue.
BYU, though, made the conversation a little more complicated. The pressure did not show up as consistently, and head coach Marcus Freeman pointed to execution and control as the areas that needed attention during that game. The bigger question now is whether Ash keeps leaning on the same aggressive approach or adjusts it as Notre Dame moves deeper into the schedule, because the answer could shape how steady this defense looks from here. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College Faces A Brutal Notre Dame Test With Plenty At Stake
Boston College heads into South Bend carrying the burden of a two-game losing streak, and the challenge waiting there is about as steep as it gets in November. The Eagles are 4-5 and trying to steady themselves against a No. 3 Notre Dame team that has won two straight and has been one of the sports most consistent contenders this season.
For the Irish, this is the kind of late-season matchup that can keep the playoff conversation moving in the right direction, especially with the regular season winding down and the margin for error shrinking. Boston College will bring its captains, recent results and roster into a setting where Notre Dame has every reason to protect its standing, but the bigger question is whether the Eagles can turn a difficult trip into something more than just another test. [Read more 🡒]