Art Rooney on Mike Tomlin: When you have a good coach, you keep trying to build with him

The Steelers have no idea who is going to be their quarterback next season. They have no question who will be their head coach.

Steelers president Art Rooney II threw his full support behind Mike Tomlin on Monday.

"When you look at how many games Mike has won in this league, you don't win that many games if you’re not a good coach," Rooney said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. "And I know he's frustrated like we all are in terms of not being able to take that next step, but we still feel good about him being the leader, and still think he has the strengths that he always had in terms of being able to lead a team.

"The other side of the coin is when you look at the fact that we have six, seven, eight teams a year that turn their coaches over. When you have a good coach, you just try to keep building with them."

That's not what most teams do, but the Steelers aren't most teams. They don't change coaches, having proudly had only three head coaches since 1969.

Tomlin, 52, will return for a 19th season. He has never had a losing season and is 183-107-2 in the regular season in his career.

But the Steelers went one-and-one again this postseason, losing their sixth consecutive playoff game. They have not won a postseason game since 2016.

Only Jim Mora, Marvin Lewis, Marty Schottenheimer, Shane Owen and Tomlin have lost six or more playoff games in a row in NFL history.

The Steelers ended the 2024 season with five consecutive losses.

"It's fair to question it after losing five in a row, but when I talk to the players, I think the players still want to play for Mike," Rooney said. "And so I'm not concerned about his message or that kind of an issue."

Rooney acknowledge the growing frustration with his team's inability to win in the postseason. The Steelers have not played in the Super Bowl since the 2010 season, and they last won it in the 2008 season.

"My inbox has been pretty full lately," Rooney said. "Yeah, I have a sense. And look, I share their frustration. I mean it was very disappointing the way we ended the season, so I understand that. I understand why people are mad. All I can say is actions speak louder than words, and we've got to be better."