The NFL is usually a bottom-line league. Coaches and front offices are judged on their ability to produce postseason wins. When reality doesn’t meet expectations, teams are quick to move on from leadership in the hopes the next guy will provide the right results.
On this front, the Pittsburgh Steelers have always operated differently. What some view as stability others may say is complacency. The fact remains, the Steelers are working on their fourth coach since 1969 with the previous three stepping down on their own terms. Even long-time general manager Kevin Colbert left on his own accord in 2022.
It’s been a long time since Pittsburgh has fired anyone at the top of their leadership group.
According to Colin Cowherd, this is what sets the Steelers apart from the rest of the NFL. And not in a good way.
“Other than the Pittsburgh Steelers, in the NFL, if you don’t win big playoff games, you get fired as a GM or a coach. The Steelers are different. Winning record, everybody stays,” Cowherd said this week on The Herd. “31 of 32 teams, Sean McDermott’s a great example. Got to two conference championships, ended that 18 year Buffalo Bills playoff route, won a bunch of big games, even beat Mahomes, and the Chiefs several times, got whacked. Why? Because the standard of the owner in Buffalo was higher than eventually McDermott could meet.
“Everybody in the NFL runs business that way, except the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are like, listen, we got a winning record and they don’t fire coaches.”
In plain terms, Cowherd is correct. The Steelers aren’t quick to fire coaches and GMs. The winning seasons with nothing to show for it in the playoffs have magnified the organization’s tendency to prefer stability over change.
Mike Tomlin became a symbol for accepting mediocrity for many Steelers fans as the team never suffered a losing season under his tutelage but failed to win a playoff game in each of his final nine seasons. Even as the calls for change grew louder from outside the organization, the Rooney family never wavered in support of their coach.
The argument can be made that Tomlin may have been fired had he not resigned after the 2025 season, but the perception still lingers that the Steelers are satisfied with winning seasons and nothing more.
With Mike McCarthy taking over, it’s fair to wonder what the expectations will be internally and what will constitute a successful season. The roster has enough talent to reasonably expect another winning season, but few consider the Steelers as one of this year’s true Super Bowl contenders. Winning a postseason game would feel like progress, even if it comes with no clear future at quarterback.
Cowherd is one of many who think in order for the Steelers to compete with the NFL’s top teams, they need to conform to ways the rest of the league behaves when it comes to firing coaches and GMs quickly when success isn’t attained. Plenty has changed this offseason in Pittsburgh, but a new attitude on personnel changes may be a bridge too far for an organization that is built on tradition.
