{"id":652051,"date":"2026-01-04T01:20:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T01:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/652051\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T01:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T01:20:21","slug":"steelers-are-clearly-preparing-for-life-after-mike-tomlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/652051\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers are clearly preparing for life after Mike Tomlin"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been something you could set your watch to for the better part of five years \u2013 conversations starting about whether or not the Pittsburgh Steelers will move on from Mike Tomlin right around this time of the year. However, those conversations have largely just been speculation more than anything, with the Steelers themselves never showing any real interest in moving on from the longest-tenured head coach in major American sports.<\/p>\n

Until now.<\/p>\n

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The Steelers have been connected to multiple head coaching candidates over the last week. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated noted that Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula is a name to watch for Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Steelers, Ravens and Bills have generated conversation in recent weeks,\u201d Breer writes<\/a>. \u201cIs there any reality to it? I don\u2019t think these would be firings. But there is some thought that Mike Tomlin could look at a reset, with the Pittsburgh roster potentially going through one soon too, and take a year or two in TV before returning to the sideline. And interestingly enough, Shula\u2019s name has been connected to the Steelers, in case there is an opening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reports that the Steelers had internal conversations about potentially hiring Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman before he committed to returning to the university.<\/p>\n

\u201cThough Freeman ultimately announced he\u2019s staying at Notre Dame, there\u2019s a strong belief around the league that this won\u2019t be the last time his name is connected to NFL opportunities,\u201d\u00a0Russini writes.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cThe Giants, Titans and Browns all had internal discussions about Freeman, as did the Pittsburgh Steelers (in the event longtime coach Mike Tomlin decided to step away).\u201d<\/p>\n

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This is the first time I can recall insiders going on record with names they believe could replace Tomlin \u2013 that\u2019s not a coincidence. It\u2019s not to say that Tomlin will 100 percent be gone in 2026, but it\u2019s very clear that the Steelers are preparing for his departure. Things like this don\u2019t get out by accident, and it\u2019s certainly something to monitor in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Be sure to bookmark Behind the Steel Curtain for all the latest news, breakdowns, and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been something you could set your watch to for the better part of five years \u2013 conversations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7453,215,86,38654,6164,7,58,1255,6,92344,520,57,2360,169,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-652051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-albert-breer","9":"tag-bills","10":"tag-browns","11":"tag-chris-shula","12":"tag-dianna-russini","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-los-angeles-rams","15":"tag-mike-tomlin","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-notre-dame-head-coach","18":"tag-pittsburgh","19":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","20":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","21":"tag-ravens","22":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115834206984044637","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}