The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since the 2016 season, and the team signed four-time league MVP QB Aaron Rodgers this offseason in an attempt to get over the hump in the postseason. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio believes the Steelers signing Rodgers is a sign of “desperation.”
“It feels like a level of desperation to end what will be a nine-year streak with no playoff wins,” he said on The Dan Patrick Show. “That’s the longest the Steelers have gone between postseason wins since they finally got their first one, December 23rd, 1972, in the Immaculate Reception game. So I feel like there’s a desperation there. And if they fail to win a playoff game this year, what happens next?”
Florio said he doesn’t believe the Steelers will fire Mike Tomlin, but he opined that Tomlin could opt to move on or the Steelers could entertain trade offers for him after the season.
“I’m not saying they will, but the level of desperation this year tells me if they fail again, we need to be ready for anything in 2026,” Florio said.
For the past few seasons, it’s seemed as if the chatter around Tomlin potentially leaving the Steelers, either via a trade or to work in TV has been endless. The team not winning a playoff game in nearly a decade has been a black mark on Tomlin’s resume, and if the Steelers fail to win one with Rodgers this year, the criticism is only going to get louder.
However, Tomlin is under contract through the 2027 season and has shown no signs of wanting to move on, and the Steelers aren’t going to let him go before his contract expires. Unless things really go south this season, the odds of Tomlin leaving the Steelers are incredibly low.
The Steelers are likely going to reset and draft a rookie quarterback early in 2026, and Tomlin will probably have the chance to see it through even with another disappointing season. It would no doubt be a letdown, but it likely wouldn’t result in change as drastic as Tomlin moving on. While signing Rodgers is definitely a swing for the fences by Pittsburgh, both sides seem keen on it being a one-year arrangement, and it’s not really all that big of a gamble. He was the best quarterback available to give them a chance to compete this season, and the Steelers can look for their quarterback of the future next offseason.
While another season without a playoff win wouldn’t help Mike Tomlin’s public perception, it doesn’t feel all that likely that it would lead to Pittsburgh moving on or Tomlin opting to move on.