{"id":351660,"date":"2025-12-16T07:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T07:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/351660\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T07:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T07:44:08","slug":"ben-roethlisberger-backtracks-a-bit-on-his-comments-about-a-steelers-mike-tomlin-split","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/351660\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Roethlisberger backtracks (a bit) on his comments about a Steelers, Mike Tomlin split"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger helped take the conversation about coach Mike Tomlin\u2019s future to the next level two weeks ago, by addressing the question of whether both sides should move on in the days after a 26-7 home loss to the Bills.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Monday night, Roethsliberger backtracked a bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because I said that, you know, there\u2019s a time for maybe some new things \u2014 that\u2019s just saying that I think, you know, Coach Tomlin, if he wants to move on, he has every right to want to move on<\/a>,\u201d Roethlisberger said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com. \u201cIt\u2019s not that they should. It\u2019s up to him. He\u2019s earned that right. And that, you know, if he wants to go do something else he can and he should and we should honor him when that time comes. Whenever that is. Maybe he wants to coach another ten years. That\u2019s fine, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roethlisberger\u2019s original comments didn\u2019t make it sound like a one-way deal, but a mutual split.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s being talked about around here a lot: Maybe it\u2019s a clean-house time<\/a>. Maybe it\u2019s time,\u201d Roethlisberger said. \u201cI like Coach Tomlin. I have a lot of respect for Coach Tomlin. But maybe it\u2019s best for him, too. Maybe a fresh start for him is what\u2019s best. Whether that\u2019s in the pros, maybe go be Penn State\u2019s head coach. You know what he would do in Penn State? He would probably go win national championships. Because he\u2019s a great recruiter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roethlisberger made it clear two weeks ago that Tomlin should not be fired when Roethlisberger first addressed the issue. But he nevertheless indicated it may be in the team\u2019s best interests to make a change. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t fire a guy like Coach Tomlin,\u201d Roethlisberger said on his podcast. \u201cHe\u2019s a Hall of Fame head coach, he\u2019s respected. What you do is you come to an understanding and agreement, and it\u2019s like, \u2018Hey, listen, I think it\u2019s probably best for both of us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The question gets thornier if Tomlin wants to go coach another NFL team and the Steelers insist on significant draft-pick compensation. Tomlin arguably, through 19 years of service, has earned the right to not have his next opportunity bogged down by his new team giving up a first-round pick or more.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where it could interesting, because Tomlin can veto any trade<\/a> by declining to cooperate with the standard process of essentially trading a head coach from one team to another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger helped take the conversation about coach Mike Tomlin\u2019s future to the next level…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-351660","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-nfl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}