2026 will mark the first year that the Pittsburgh Steelers have had a new head coach since 2007 when Mike Tomlin took over for Bill Cowher. Tomlin stepped down as head coach after 19 seasons at the helm following a 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans in the wild card round.
In recent weeks, there has been an increase in discourse surrounding Tomlin and the Steelers’ defense that struggled in 2025. Pittsburgh finished 18th in the NFL in defensive EPA per dropback, and the unit as a whole was inconsistent throughout the 2025 season. This led to Darius Slay subtly calling out Tomlin in a recent podcast appearance.
“I ain’t gonna lie to you, that Pittsburgh stuff… that s—t’s backwards over there,” Slay said via Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot. “That ain’t [Teryl Austin] s—t. TA ain’t teach none of that s—t in f—king Detroit. [We played] outside leverage every f—king call. That’s why you see when [Jalen] Ramsey ever got scored on, he’s chasing someone that’s running away from outside leverage.”
Derrick Bell of Steelers Now chimed in with a clip from Week 18 of the 2024 season where Ja’Marr Chase beat Cory Trice on a quick-in breaker where Trice was playing outside leverage and the middle of the field was wide open, to which I added my own commentary via X saying the game and passed both Mike Tomlin and Teryl Austin by.
In the most recent episode of The Pump Fake with myself and Todd Haley, the former Steelers offensive coordinator took exception to that comment.
“I’m going to rant at you and do my best Stephen A. Smith impression,” Haley said. “What are you talking about? This guy is so much smarter than you or I or anybody probably listening to this podcast. Football smart, world smart, everything. Smart people don’t let things pass them by… there are so many factors that go into playing good defense. I know Mike Tomlin had a big hand in how they played defense. Can he go out there and play it for them [though]? No. And no coach can, but you can only do everything you can to put the players in the best position to succeed.”
Haley coached under Tomlin for six seasons from 2012-17, helping the Steelers reach the AFC Championship in the 2016 season.
