Steelers, Mike Tomlin agree to 3-year contract extension

Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to a three-year contract extension that ties the team and its longtime coach through the 2024 season.

Tomlin is entering his 15th season as coach, tying him with predecessor Bill Cowher for the second-longest tenure in Steelers history behind Hall of Famer Chuck Noll. If Tomlin completes the contract, he would begin to approach Noll’s 23 seasons (1969-91) with the Steelers. And with the benefit of the new 17-game schedule, Tomlin also is within striking distance of Noll’s club-record 193 coaching wins.

Tomlin guided the Steelers to the Super Bowl XLIII title during his second season after being hired as a 34-year-old in 2007. They played in another Super Bowl two years later and advanced to the AFC championship game after the 2016 season.

Tomlin has a 145-78-1 (.650) record, and the Steelers never have had a losing season under his watch.

“Mike is one of the most successful head coaches in the National Football League,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a statement released by the team, “and we are confident in his leadership to continue to lead our team as we work to win another championship.”

The term of the deal is notable because the previous extension Tomlin signed (in 2019) was a one-year deal with an option. That was signed between a pair of nonplayoff seasons, something that has only happened twice for the Steelers under Tomlin.

The extension all but assures that Tomlin will steward the Steelers into their post-Ben Roethlisberger era. Their longtime quarterback will be 39 when he plays his 18th season in 2021, and his eminent retirement could usher in a rebuilding era. Other than when Roethlisberger hs been injured, Tomlin has had the benefit of a franchise, future Hall of Fame quarterback throughout his coaching tenure.

We have signed Coach Mike Tomlin to a three-year contract extension.

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) April 20, 2021

Despite their successes, the Steelers have won just three playoff games over the past 10 seasons. They were blown out by the rival Cleveland Browns at home in a wild-card game in January, an inauspicious ending to a season that began with the Steelers winning their first 11 games and ended with a 1-5 finish.

Currently the third-longest tenured head coach in the NFL, Tomlin ranks 21st in NFL history in regular-season wins — third among active coaches — and is 12th in records over .500. His .650 regular-season win percentage is second-best among active head coaches (minimum 100 games) and 11th in NFL history.

Bill Belichick (New England, 2000) and Sean Payton (New Orleans, 2006) are the only active coaches who were hired by their current teams before Tomlin.

“I am extremely grateful for this contract extension and want to thank Art Rooney II and everyone in the organization for the support in my first 14 seasons,” Tomlin said in the team-issued statement. “We have a goal of winning the organization’s seventh Super Bowl championship, and I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about this upcoming season.”

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