Art Rooney II on playoff losses: 'We've had enough of this'

Acknowledging there is a sense of urgency throughout the organization, Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II said Monday the franchise needs to get back to winning games in the playoffs.

The Steelers haven’t won a postseason game since the 2016 season. The seven-year drought is the longest for the franchise since the NFL merger, and the Steelers have lost their past five postseason games, including a 31-17 defeat against Buffalo in the wild-card round this season.

“We’ve had enough of this,” Rooney II said during an interview session with reporters. “It’s time to get some wins. It’s time to take the next steps. There is some urgency here, for sure.”

Rooney II believes Mike Tomlin is the right coach for the job. Although Tomlin is entering the final season of his contract, Rooney is trying to sign him to an extension. He didn’t provide a timetable for when the extension might get finished or how many extra years Tomlin could receive, but it is a priority.

“Players still respond to Mike, and that’s No. 1,” Rooney said. “He still has the key characteristics we saw when we hired him. He can keep the attention of a group of 20-year-olds for a whole season and keep them in the fight the whole way.

“We still feel good about Mike. If I didn’t, we’d make a change. If I didn’t think Mike could lead us to a championship, he wouldn’t be here.”

After winning the Super Bowl in 2008, his second season, Tomlin got the Steelers back there in 2010. They have only reached the conference championship game once since that season, and his playoff record is 8-10.

Tomlin has fared better in the regular season, going 173-100-2 in 17 seasons. Since 2007, when he was hired to replace Bill Cowher, Tomlin’s record ranks third behind Bill Belichick and Andy Reid.

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The Steelers offset a three-game losing streak in December by winning their final three games to finish 10-7 and assure Tomlin a 17th consecutive nonlosing season. It was a one-game improvement on the 9-8 record the Steelers had in 2022 when they missed the postseason.

“I think it’s fair to say we are closer this year at this stage of the game than we were at this point last year,” Rooney said. “I thought we had a solid rookie class and a few guys who stepped in and are solid starters for the future. We need to do it again and have another solid draft class. We can compete with this group.”