{"id":663440,"date":"2026-01-08T09:40:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T09:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/663440\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T09:40:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T09:40:25","slug":"following-recent-30-minute-meeting-with-art-rooney-ii-tony-dungy-concludes-mike-tomlin-is-not-in-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/663440\/","title":{"rendered":"Following Recent 30 Minute Meeting With Art Rooney II, Tony Dungy Concludes ‘Mike Tomlin Is Not In Trouble’"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II had any desire to move on from head coach Mike Tomlin, he has a brilliant poker face. Covering Sunday night\u2019s game for NBC Sports, Tony Dungy had a 30 minute Saturday meeting with Rooney ahead of his extended sit down<\/a> with Tomlin. From Dungy\u2019s perspective, Rooney is more than willing to bring Tomlin back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were at the game, Dan, covering the game, Pittsburgh and Baltimore,\u201d Dungy told Dan Patrick in a Wednesday interview.<\/a>\u00a0 \u201cAnd leading up to it all we\u2019re hearing is whichever coach is loses the game is in trouble. And I\u2019m thinking, here\u2019s a guy who\u2019s been there 19 years. Another guy\u2019s been there 18 years. They\u2019ve been to Super Bowls, they\u2019ve been in the playoffs. Why are you in trouble?<\/p>\n

\u201cI interviewed Mike Tomlin Saturday. I\u2019m in Art Rooney\u2019s office, and I sit for 30 minutes with Art Rooney. And I come to the conclusion, Mike Tomlin is not in trouble. I sensed that from talking to Art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dungy\u2019s comments came on the heels of reacting to the Baltimore Ravens firing head coach John Harbaugh, a decision Dungy panned. He told Patrick the decision seemed to stem from angry fans rather than a true belief the organization would be better without Harbaugh. Baltimore will look to make just its fourth head coach hire in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Though most of the focus has been on Tomlin possibly leaving on his own accord, Dungy\u2019s comments are still notable. Tomlin might feel more willing to jump ship if he senses ownership is wavering in its support. Dungy didn\u2019t detail specifics of what gave him the confidence to share such a sentiment, but his ties to the organization run deep. As a player, a coach, mentor of Tomlin and longtime friend of Rooney.<\/p>\n

Even if Ravens\u2019 kicker Tyler Loop would\u2019ve sent the Steelers home, Dungy thinks Tomlin\u2019s job would\u2019ve been safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Pittsburgh lost, I knew that wasn\u2019t true,\u201d he said, responding to reports of Tomlin being outed with a loss.<\/p>\n

More subtly, Dungy\u2019s comments suggest Rooney doesn\u2019t have any reason to think Tomlin is considering leaving, either.<\/p>\n

Should Tomlin return in 2026, Rooney will have to decide Tomlin\u2019s 2027 team option<\/a> by March 1st. Dungy\u2019s comments hint, though don\u2019t outright say, Rooney will exercise it. Failing to do so would make Tomlin a \u201clame duck\u201d coach going into 2026. Contractually and optically, it would create the perception his job is on the line. That might make it tougher to retain pending and bring in outside free agents. Many choose Pittsburgh specifically to play for Tomlin and if his status beyond 2026 is in question, that could impact a player\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

Assuming Pittsburgh welcomes Tomlin back, he\u2019ll have to decide to coach for a 20th year with the Steelers or do something else. His Wednesday interview with Rich Eisen indicated he aims to continue coaching,<\/a> though a final decision should be known within days of the team\u2019s season ending.<\/p>\n

Check out the full clip below.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II had any desire to move on from head coach Mike Tomlin,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[4393,21916,7,1255,6,520,57,2360,426,13529,691],"class_list":{"0":"post-663440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-art-rooney-ii","9":"tag-dan-patrick","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-mike-tomlin","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-pittsburgh","14":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","15":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","16":"tag-steelers","17":"tag-tony-dungy","18":"tag-trending"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115858822144236810","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663440","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=663440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}