Tim Benz: 66,068 people heard 'Fire Tomlin' chants at Steelers game. Well, 66,067 anyway
There were 66,068 people at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss to the Buffalo Bills. They all heard the “Fi-re Tom-lin” chants and the boos for “Renegade.”
Actually, I should say only 66,067 people.
Because we all know Steelers owner Art Rooney II didn’t hear them.
He was busy sticking his fingers in his ears and yelling “La-La-La-La-La-La” as loud as he could to make the chants go away.
If you do that long enough, it’s like they never even happened.
People could’ve been chanting “Fi-re Tom-lin” through bullhorns in Rooney’s face as he was pulling out of his parking spot Sunday night, and he still wouldn’t have paid attention.
To Rooney, calls for the dismissal of Mike Tomlin as the franchise’s head coach are the very definition of ambient noise.
It’s the hum of rolling tires during a long trip down the turnpike. It’s elevator music. It’s cars honking in Midtown Manhattan.
He won’t even notice. Customer dissatisfaction is of no concern to Rooney — at least not until it is reflected in repeated losing records or, much more importantly, profit.
Unless Rooney somehow feels that ticket sales, merchandising, corporate sponsorships or organizational investment are being marginalized by Tomlin’s presence, he is less likely to respond to his customers’ outrage than the gas company is when you complain about rates being too high.
Tomlin sees Rooney as the coach for life.
Not just his own life, but probably Tomlin’s.
And yours too. No matter how old you are.
Let’s be honest. Even if the Steelers lose at least three of their next five and assure themselves of a losing season for the first time since 2003, that still won’t make Rooney pay attention.
The narrative will just shift from, “Yeah, but Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season,” to “Yeah, but Mike Tomlin has only had one losing season.”
Rooney sees you and me as the problem, not Tomlin. He sees complaining media members and grumbling fans as pampered, demanding consumers and critics who have no idea how good we’ve got it at 6-6 with the NFL’s most overpaid defense and most confounding offense.
Haven’t you heard? We’re not the Jets, dontcha know?
That’s the new standard to measure the coach who coined the phrase, “The standard is the standard.”
I’ll pause for a moment to let you sift through that irony.
Remember Rooney’s sit-down interview with TribLive news partner WTAE’s Ashley Liotus last January? Rooney had the temerity to (verbally) wag his finger at us and remind us that the Steelers have “had some success around here” and we “need to keep it in perspective.”
Art Rooney II on the Steelers culture being under fire recently.@WTAE pic.twitter.com/4AekjFh2B9
— Ashley Liotus (@AshleyLiotus) January 30, 2025
Well, in 12 of the past 14 seasons, they haven’t had any playoff success, and none at all in the last eight.
• That’s the longest playoff win drought for the franchise since the Immaculate Reception. The Steelers also went 12 of 14 seasons without a playoff win during the perceived dark ages of 1980-93 between Super Bowl XIV through the first two years of Bill Cowher’s tenure.
That stretch of post-Steel Curtain years to end Chuck Noll’s era is spoken of in only hushed, fleeting references at team headquarters. Its existence is barely recognized.
Yet we celebrate Tomlin’s record of going 73-53-2 (and 0-4 in the playoffs) since the start of 2018 as part of a major accomplishment.
• Rooney’s current coach is now renowned for “never having a losing season” more than he is for his Super Bowl trophy, which is almost 17 years old.
Well, a season is 17 games. And over his most recent 17 games, Tomlin is 6-11.
• The Steelers’ last playoff victory was five days before President Donald Trump’s inauguration. The first one.
How’s all that for a little “perspective?”
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So shout “Fire Tomlin” all you want. It’ll make you feel better. Just don’t expect the right guy to hear it.
Maybe if the Steelers are picking in the top 10 of the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh next April and that chant happens on national television a dozen times or so over three days with all of their picks, it’ll finally get Rooney’s attention.
If not, try, “Sell The Team.”
That seems to be working out great with the other owner on the North Shore.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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