First Call: Steelers not expected to move on from Mike Tomlin; loss to Ravens panned by Terry Bradshaw, Bill Cowher
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In Monday’s “First Call,” don’t expect the Pittsburgh Steelers to make any move at the head coaching position.
A pair of Steelers legends are disappointed in their former team’s effort during Saturday night’s playoff loss in Baltimore.
A familiar face will be coaching the Patriots when the Steelers visit New England next year. And next week’s playoff lines are out for the AFC’s second round.
Nothing on the horizon
While a lot of Pittsburgh football fans would like a change at the head coaching position after the Steelers’ latest postseason demise, don’t expect one.
Frankly, it feels like very few people in Pittsburgh are anticipating Mike Tomlin to be traded or fired. But they like to grumble about it.
Meanwhile, the national media is speculating for the sake of their own speculation and need to fill air time. It’s very similar to the Justin Fields versus Russell Wilson “debate” that outside media types invented this summer.
But in an attempt to quell ESPN’s own self-created narrative Sunday, NFL reporter Adam Schefter broke the news that isn’t news: Mike Tomlin isn’t likely to be going anywhere.
“Pittsburgh hasn’t given any indication that it wants to move on from Mike Tomlin,” Schefter said. “This has been the most patient franchise, not just in football, but maybe sports. When Bill Cowher was struggling at the end, and fans in Pittsburgh wanted him gone, the Rooneys stuck with him. He wound up winning another Super Bowl. There’s no indication they want to move off Mike Tomlin now.”
Eh, I wouldn’t say Cowher was “struggling at the end.” His three-year playoff drought began just six years into his career. He coached another five years after it was over in 2001, and surprised many by retiring (and staying retired) following the 2006 season.
Tomlin has now failed to win a playoff game 14 times in his 18 seasons. Yet, owner Art Rooney II seems just fine with that because the team has never had a losing season under Tomlin’s leadership.
As we all know, Rooney II places a high value on consistent medicori— … uh … consistent playoff relevance.
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Cowher expects change
While Schefter doesn’t expect a change at the head coaching position, the Steelers’ playoff defeat Saturday night went over poorly with Tomlin’s predecessor.
During the CBS pregame show Sunday morning, Bill Cowher said the way in which the Steelers lost that 28-14 affair in Baltimore should result in changes for the franchise.
“It’s the manner with which they lost,” Cowher said. “You talk about the physicality and the fact that the Ravens rushed for almost 300 yards. That’s something they have to look at in this offseason. There will probably be some changes (coming) on that football team, players and coaches, because right now, that’s going to stick with them for a long time. It’s not that they lost, it’s the manner in which they lost that football game.”
"It's not that they lost, it's the manner with which they lost yesterday."
Coach Cowher gives his thoughts on the end of the Steelers season pic.twitter.com/KLsHdb7lDt
— NFL on CBS ???? (@NFLonCBS) January 12, 2025
Getting destroyed in postseason competition is nothing new for the Steelers. Their six straight playoff defeats have come by an average of 14 points since the start of the 2017 postseason.
That’s eight consecutive years without a playoff victory for Tomlin. The longest drought that Cowher had in his career were those three seasons from 1998-2000 mentioned above.
Terry too
As for the Fox pregame show, four-time Steelers Super Bowl champion Terry Bradshaw also panned his former team for their performance.
“I can’t get over the game last night when you saw the Baltimore Ravens beat the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Bradshaw said. “The Steelers have now lost five straight games. That’s just unheard of. The defense was horrible. It couldn’t stop the run, couldn’t stop the pass, couldn’t do anything right last night. You can’t lose playoff games. This doesn’t look anything like the Steelers teams we’ve seen.”
Bradshaw’s fellow Fox host, retired Super Bowl-winning coach Jimmy Johnson, said that the franchise should consider a coaching swap with the Dallas Cowboys. He thinks it’d be a good idea for Tomlin to go to Dallas and Mike McCarthy to come home to Pittsburgh.
"Things are stale in Pittsburgh. Things are stale in Dallas… How about a coaching swap? Mike McCarthy is a Pittsburgh guy. Let him go to [the Steelers]. Let Mike Tomlin go to [the Cowboys]. Both franchises would be excited." – Jimmy Johnson #NFL pic.twitter.com/M8yev28h0E
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 12, 2025
That’s far-fetched. However, one point to extract from that conversation is that McCarthy and Tomlin have very similar resumes. Yet Tomlin is Teflon with the national media, and anytime McCarthy loses a single game in Dallas, the national media is calling for him to be fired.
See you soon
Former Steeler Mike Vrabel is going to be the new head coach of the New England Patriots. That news was announced Sunday. The former Pats linebacker will replace Jerod Mayo after just one season as the successor to six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick.
He’s back!
Patriots Hall of Famer Mike Vrabel returns to New England as our 16th head coach. pic.twitter.com/a3r7IQNzvk
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) January 12, 2025
After starting his NFL coaching career with the Houston Texans as linebackers coach and eventually defensive coordinator, Vrabel went on to be the head coach of the Tennessee Titans from 2018-23.
The three-time Super Bowl winner was a coaching and personnel consultant for the Cleveland Browns this past season.
Vrabel will coach against the Steelers next year. The Steelers are due to visit Foxborough in 2025. The Steelers haven’t played in Gillette Stadium since the 2019 season opener. That was a 33-3 victory for the Pats.
The Steelers are 3-0 against Vrabel as a head coach, winning games against the Titans in 2020, ‘21 and ‘23.
Now what’s left?
With the Steelers eliminated from AFC playoff competition, the last four teams in conference contention are the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. That’s because Houston took out the L.A. Chargers, 32-12, on Saturday afternoon, and the Bills were 31-7 winners at home over the Denver Broncos.
Those are the four division winners in the conference and the top four seeds in the AFC as well.
Early odds for next week’s games are out. The Chiefs are favorites at home against Houston, but not by as much as you might think. Via ESPNBet, the Texans are only 7.5-point underdogs at Arrowhead as K.C. comes off a bye. Kansas City was a 29-17 home winner versus Houston on Dec. 21.
Meanwhile, in the other AFC game, the Ravens are only one-point underdogs in Buffalo. They beat the Bills, 35-10, in Baltimore earlier this season.
As for the NFC, the Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders are still alive. The final team in the mix will be determined based on who wins Monday’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams. The winner of that game will visit Philadelphia. According to BetRivers.com, the Lions are 8.5-point favorites over the Commanders.