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Tomlin, 53, never produced a losing season in 19 years and won a Super Bowl during the 2008 season, but the franchise has lost six straight playoff games since its last postseason win in 2017.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s 30-6 loss to Houston marked the fifth-straight loss by at least 10 points.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s uncertain whether he will be the top coaching candidate in this year\u2019s cycle and move to the top of the list for the Giants and others or if he could join a broadcasting booth.<\/p>\n
ESPN\u2019s Peter Schrager said there\u2019s a \u201cchair waiting\u201d either in a booth or on a set for Tomlin prior to the team\u2019s playoff-clinching win over the Ravens in Week 18.<\/p>\n
Mike Tomlin has stepped down as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.Source: AFP<\/p>\n
While Tomlin has shown his coaching chops by never finishing with a losing season, questions emerged about the team\u2019s direction under his guidance.<\/p>\n
The Steelers are one of the NFL\u2019s premier franchises, but they haven\u2019t been true AFC or Super Bowl contenders since the 2020 season.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh has finished with nine or 10 wins in each of the last five seasons, and with at least eight wins in seven of the last eight campaigns.<\/p>\n
The franchise is also in a horrible playoff rut, having lost six straight games since losing the Patriots in the AFC Championship game during the 2016 season.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s loss to the Texans marked the third time in this stretch Pittsburgh has lost at home in the playoffs, joining previous setbacks to the rival Browns and Jaguars.<\/p>\n
The nine-year drought and inability to produce elite regular seasons raised questions about whether the franchise had become stale, particularly on offence.<\/p>\n
The franchise struggled to find a solid quarterback until 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers joined the franchise this year, but even he may be a one-year stop gap.<\/p>\n
Aaron Rodgers\u2019 future is now under a cloud.Source: AFP<\/p>\n
Speaking of which, the potential final postgame press conference of Rodgers\u2019 career ended abruptly.<\/p>\n
The Steelers\u2019 quarterback dropped an f-bomb and appeared to cut his Q&A short after getting a second straight question regarding Tomlin\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve answered that a number of times,\u201d Rodgers said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve talked extensively about how I feel about Mike \u2014 and I just did in that f\u2013king answer, so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier, Rodgers went to bat for Tomlin, stating that in years past, coaches like Tomlin or his ex-coach, Matt LaFleur of the Packers, would not have been on the hot seat.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the way that the league is covered now and the way that there\u2019s snap decisions and the validity given to the Twitter experts and all the experts on TV now who make it seem like they know what the hell they\u2019re talking about, to me that\u2019s an absolute joke,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cAnd for either those two guys to be on the hot seat is really apropos of where we\u2019re at as a society and a league.<\/p>\n
\u201cMike T. has had more success than damn near anybody in the league for the last 19, 20 years. More than that, though, when you have the right guy and the culture is right, you don\u2019t think about making a change, but there\u2019s a lot of pressure that comes from the outside and obviously that sways decisions from time to time. But it\u2019s not how I would do things and not how the league used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodgers, who completed 17 of 33 passes for 146 yards and a pick-six that all but sealed the game, did not indicate whether his legendary career is over, not wanting to make an emotional decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cDisappointed, obviously, such a fun year, a lot of adversity but a lot of fun,\u201d Rodgers said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeen a great year overall in my life in the last year, and this is a really good part of that coming here and being part of this, so it\u2019s disappointing to be here with the season over.\u201d<\/p>\n