{"id":385373,"date":"2026-01-03T11:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T11:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/385373\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T11:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T11:52:08","slug":"breer-rams-dc-chris-shula-connected-to-steelers-in-case-of-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/385373\/","title":{"rendered":"Breer: Rams DC Chris Shula ‘Connected’ To Steelers ‘In Case’ Of Opening"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Tomlin\u2019s future may be at a crossroads, especially if the Pittsburgh Steelers fall flat in Week 18 and miss the playoffs. With plenty of speculation about what lies ahead for Tomlin amid a 2027 team option decision due in March, SI.com\u2019s NFL insider Albert Breer<\/a> thinks Tomlin could look to step away. Breer already has a name generating buzz to possibly replace him \u2014 LA Rams DC Chris Shula.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Steelers, Ravens and Bills have generated conversation in recent weeks. Is 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,\u201d Breer wrote. \u201cAnd interestingly enough, Shula\u2019s name has been connected to the Steelers, in case there is an opening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Schefter has been speculating<\/a> about the potential for Tomlin to make a move to television while he plans his next NFL move. Normally that would be notable, but this same storyline has come up every year in December and January for the last three or four seasons. What makes Breer\u2019s report more notable is the fact that he is already connecting the name of a possible successor in Pittsburgh. I\u2019m not sure we\u2019ve heard anything like that over the last few years, despite the constant speculation about Tomlin\u2019s job.<\/p>\n

If the Steelers decline Tomlin\u2019s option and set up a lame-duck season, maybe he could decide to move on. At least one Steelers insider thinks the first part of that is possible.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s just assume for the sake of conversation that Tomlin does move on and Sunday is his last game in Pittsburgh. Shula could make some sense as a guy who fits the profile to be the Steelers\u2019 next head coach.<\/p>\n

For one, there are indirect historical ties between the Steelers and the Shula family. Chris Shula\u2019s grandfather Don, who holds the all-time win record for a head coach in the NFL, hired Chuck Noll to be his defensive coordinator and backfield coach. The Steelers hired Noll, in a move that would change the franchise forever, directly from Shula\u2019s staff with the Baltimore Colts in 1969. Shula spoke highly of Noll to Dan Rooney, who was leading the search for the Steelers\u2019 next head coach, per Bob Labriola on Steelers.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chris Shula\u2019s father, Dave, was a former head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals, but he also served on that Miami Dolphins staff as a WR and QB coach.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that former Steelers GM Kevin Colbert served five seasons as a college scout with the Miami Dolphins when Shula was the head coach there.<\/p>\n

Chris Shula was a defensive coordinator at John Carroll in 2014 when Steelers QB coach Tom Arth was the head coach there.<\/p>\n

Beyond the history that the Shula family tangentially has with several current and former Steelers, he fits the profile of what the organization has hired in the past.<\/p>\n

He was just promoted to his first NFL coordinator job in 2024 under Sean McVay with the LA Rams. He led the No. 8 scoring defense in the league this season which was a dramatic improvement from his first season. The last three Steelers head coaches were defensive coordinators before getting hired. Pittsburgh also places a high value on NFL bloodlines and the deep understanding of the industry that comes with that. The NFL bloodlines don\u2019t get much thicker than what runs in the Shula family.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most importantly, Shula is just 39 years old. Noll was 37 and Bill Cowher and Tomlin were both 34 when they were hired. The Steelers like youth because they place such an emphasis on continuity with historically long tenures with the team.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that Teryl Austin\u2019s contract should be expiring after this season. Could Shula make a lateral move to come to Pittsburgh as the next DC? For what it\u2019s worth, Breer also connected Shula to the Tennessee Titans and New York Giants openings. He could just be the hot name that is generating buzz everywhere.<\/p>\n

For now, this is just something for us all to stash in the back of our heads. But it\u2019s interesting that an NFL insider has heard buzz about this possibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Tomlin\u2019s future may be at a crossroads, especially if the Pittsburgh Steelers fall flat in Week 18…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[1604,187606,3966,349,187607,99,3795,15241],"class_list":{"0":"post-385373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-albert-breer","9":"tag-chris-shula","10":"tag-mike-tomlin","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-si-com","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-trending","15":"tag-weekly"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385373","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=385373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}