Three months after stepping down as Pittsburgh Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin finally opened up about what drove him away from the job he’d held for nearly two decades — and the word he used might surprise you.
“There’s a loneliness with leadership,” Tomlin told NBC’s Maria Taylor during an NBA pregame show on the network on Sunday, April 26. “I just thought it was a good time for me, personally. And what I mean by that is just where I am in life.”
It was the first time Tomlin had spoken publicly about his January resignation, and his candor cut far deeper than a polished exit statement.
Mike Tomlin Explains Decision to Leave Pittsburgh Steelers Organization
“It was probably not an overnight decision, but it’s probably not something I could articulate or share with people,” Tomlin said.
He also framed his departure as something the organization needed — not just something he wanted.
“And I thought it was a good time for the organization, to be quite honest with you,” he added. “We didn’t have a lot of success in the playoffs in recent years. There’s just some veteran players there — guys like Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt and [Chris] Boswell — that were worthy of the excitement and the optimism associated with new leadership.”
The Steelers finished the 2025-2026 season with a 30–6 loss to the Houston Texans at home during the Wild Card Round. After that game, Tomlin struck a different tone — blunt and unsparing.
“When you don’t get it done, words are cheap,” Tomlin said after the game. “It’s about what you do or you don’t do. And so, I appreciate the question, but people talk too much in our business. You either do or you don’t.”
Mike Tomlin Predicts the Steelers’ Next Quarterback
Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising moment came when Tomlin was asked to predict the Steelers’ quarterback this season.
“Man, if you had a gun to my head, I’d say it’s [Aaron Rodgers],” Tomlin said. “Being around him for the 12 months I was around him, he’s got a love affair with the game of football. Not only the game, but the process. The informal moments. The development of younger guys. The connections with teammates. I think he’s got an addiction to that and there’s only one way to feed it. Certainly he is still capable and in really good shape. So I think at the end of the day, he’ll play football.”
At the time of Tomlin’s resignation, Rodgers offered a pointed defense of the departing coach.
“Mike T. has had more success than damn near anybody in the league for the last 19, 20 years,” Rodgers said. “And more than that, though, when you have the right guy and the culture is right, you don’t think about making a change, but there’s a lot of pressure that comes from the outside, and obviously that sways decisions from time to time.”
“But it’s not how I would do things and not how the league used to be.”
How Mike Tomlin Spent NFL Draft Week
Tomlin also shared what it felt like watching the recent NFL draft as a bystander for the first time in 20 years — from a cigar bar with his friends.
“Supposedly watching the draft, but you start telling war stories and so forth, the draft’s watching you,” Tomlin said. “But it was fun to watch it through a different lens. And when you’re not on the clock, you can just appreciate what a significant moment that is for the young people. And so to watch those guys get drafted, man, and live out a component of their dreams. Now we all know now the work starts, but that was a big night for those guys and it’s just fun to just watch it from that perspective.”
Mike Tomlin Is Starting a New Chapter at NBC
Tomlin already has his next move lined up. He will join NBC Sports’ Football Night in America as a studio analyst.
“I just thought it would be a great way to stay connected to the game and the awesome people in it — the players, the coaches, the executives,” Tomlin shared. “Excited to be doing that on Sunday night and traveling to different venues and getting that feel for the environment. Lastly, I just thought it would be awesome to share insight with fellow football lovers.”
Mike Tomlin Has an NFL Record That Speaks for Itself
Tomlin became the Steelers’ head coach for the 2007 season. He compiled a 193-114-2 regular-season record, led Pittsburgh to the playoffs in 13 of his 19 seasons, won eight AFC North titles and captured a Super Bowl victory in 2009. He never finished a season with a losing record.
