Only four coaches in nearly six decades: The NFL’s most stable sideline and its unbelievable record

It’s the NFL offseason and teams are still under construction as all 32 squads look to make some final signings before mandatory minicamps start up. While the Pittsburgh Steelers are one of those teams with questions surrounding their roster, there is no question as to who is in command on the sidelines, at least for now.

Tomlin’s consistency not good enough?

It’s been almost two decades that Mike Tomlin has been in charge of the Pittsburgh Steelers. In that time, millions of Terrible Towels have been swung, countless games have been won, legends have come and gone and a Lombardi Trophy was raised.

If you ask those around Acrisure Stadium, it’s about time for another Lombardi Trophy, and coach Tomlin might just be feeling an unfamiliar sense of pressure for the first time ever heading into a season. That is because, despite the 18 straight years of .500 football or better, the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since January of 2017.

In that span, they have been to the post season five times, but have been knocked out in the Wild Card Round four times and in the Divisional Round once after clinching a first round BYE in 2017. Replacing Ben Roethlisberger has been a big problem for the Steelers since he hung it up in 2021, but the problems started even before that. Now Tomlin could be skating on this ice after a late season collapse that led to another early exit from the postseason.

The NFL’s most loyal family: The Rooney’s

It’s strange to talk about a Steelers coach being on the hot seat. In this day and age, we are used to talking about the coaching carousel and the trigger happy GMs and owners that don’t let their coaches implement their style of play before swinging the unemployment ax. That’s not the case in Pittsburgh.

The Rooney family has been in charge of the decision making since the very start of the franchise back in the 1930s. Since then they have had an unwavering loyalty to their fans, players and maybe most of all their coaches and that only amplified once the Super Bowl era started in the 1966. Since then, the Steelers have had just four head coaches.

Bill Austin was the first, and is the lesser known of the Steelers head coaches because he was only around for a couple years. He had a rough record of 11-28-3 in that span, and was quickly replaced by the legendary Chuck Knoll who spent 21 years with the team from 1969-1991.

In that time the Steelers became the iconic franchise that they are today. Under Knoll he led the Steel Curtain to four Super Bowls in the 1970s, becoming one of the most successful coaches the NFL had ever seen. Knoll would retire in 1992 with a record of 209-156-1, four Super Bowl rings and a plaque in the Hall of Fame.

Cowher passes baton to Tomlin

The retirement opened the door for the next coach in the Steel City, Bill Cowher. Cowher came to Pittsburgh in 1992 and stayed until 2006. He led the Steelers to the playoffs in his first six years, and in the 2005 season he finally returned Super Bowl Glory back to the city after a quarter century. He coached for one season after Super Bowl win, and resigned with a record of 149-90-1.

Mike Tomlin was the next and last coach to be signed for the Steelers in 2007. It wasn’t long after that that Tomlin was lifting the Lombardi Trophy. It took just two seasons, and the Steeles were back on top of the NFL. Two years later they were back to playing on Super Bowl Sunday, but lost to the Green Bay Packers and ever since then the Steelers have been starving for a Super Bowl. One other thing to remember, is that Tomlin is at the end of his contract after this year.

The Rooney Family isn’t used to firing their coaches and some would think it would be a crazy thing to do considering Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season, but pressure from the fans and the media might pressure the Steelers into doing something completely out of character. That is, unless Tomlin can win a Super Bowl this year, with a stacked defense and reportedly Aaron Rodgers as the starting quarterback.