Dante FarrisSaturday December 13th, 2025
The year is 2009. February 1st, 2009, to be exact. Mike Tomlin is 741 days removed from being hired by the Steelers as the 3rd HC in franchise history. He’s at the pinnacle. In just his second year with the Steelers he took a loaded team the distance. Climbed the mountaintop, in a turbulent back and forth Super Bowl the Steelers found themselves basking in the glory of the confetti. Celebrating the franchise’s 6th ring. Ben is celebrating his second ring. The defense has cemented itself as one of the all-time greats. Tomlin is hoisting the trophy peering out at the crowd. The Standard is the Standard; and the Standard is winning. Winning games, winning rings, winning is all that matters. Tomlin was at the time the youngest Head coach to win a ring. He was on the fast track to be one of the all-time greats. But he’s just another in a long continuation of the Standard in the Steel City.
Two years later the Steelers are back. Falling short of a seventh ring, losing to a young Packers team lead by Aaron Rodgers. Two Super Bowl appearances in four seasons as a Head Coach. The moment is bitter, but the hope remains the same. This team, their Coach, this franchise, their city, are all in good hands. Wins come, successful seasons are piling, multiple playoff appearances. The kid from Minnesota seems like the ultimate slam dunk hire, and he is doing what he was brought here to do… WIN.
Now we fast forward almost 15 years later. Aaron Rodgers is now the quarterback of the Steelers at the ripe age of 42 years old. Tomlin is still the head coach of the Steelers and has never had a “losing” season. 18 straight .500 or better records. But here we are, 5,424 days later, and neither has been back to the peak. In fact, neither has even been back in the Super Bowl since. Both have gotten close, but never back to the peak. And yet both cling to the hope that they can reclaim one last thread of the dying magic they once possessed. Aaron shows flashes but is no longer the same quarterback he once was, and Mike Tomlin somehow can’t find a way past his 9-8 “standard.” And now we find ourselves 13 days removed from the Steelers embarrassing themselves against the Bills, losing 26-7 after leading 7-0 at halftime. A game that would see fans grow restless, Renegade getting booed, and chants of “Fire Tomlin” raining down from the crowd. And yet we heard the same thing we always hear two days later at the weekly Tomlin Tuesday Presser. Yes… it’s as lame as it sounds…
“The standard is the standard,” but what if the standard isn’t good enough anymore. What if the fans want more. We haven’t won a playoff game since 2016. The longest stretch in Pittsburgh history, and yet somehow the standard remains?
Now don’t get it twisted, it’s not all Tomlin’s fault. Between receivers losing their minds, looking at you AB and Pickens, and the QB carousel since Ben retired. Omar Khan kills it on trades, but his drafting is questionable. The free agent dollars just don’t seem to exist. TJ is great, but he’s hurt more and more as he ages. Our offensive scheme is always formed around an aging QB, and the defensive scheme is stuck in 2015. We’ve tried everything, new Coordinators, new old QBs, signing defensive players who are past their prime, drafting a QB. And yet nothing seems to work. But the one constant remains… Tomlin.
So, at what point is the standard no longer good enough? At what point is enough, enough? At what point does it become more than chants that fall on deaf ears? Because it feels like that time is now. Rooney Sr. never would have stood for this, and neither should the Steel City Faithful.
Bradon Kelliher-Lisson
That’s 3 coaches since 1969. They have had 16 head coaches in their history.