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Boomer & Gio

Maybe It's Time For Tomlin To Move On

13 Jan 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What prompted the discussion about Mike Tomlin's future?

0.031 - 25.116 Boomer Esiason

Rick in West Virginia. What's going on, Rick? Yes. For you, Gio and Boomer, a couple questions about Tomlin real quick. Yeah. And that is, you used to be, I think, worked a little bit there in Pittsburgh. I'm a diehard Steeler fan. I know Boomer's one of the best quarterbacks I've ever seen. Question is, do you guys feel that if you all were the owners, would you have already fired Tomlin?

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25.456 - 37.436 Boomer Esiason

And do you feel that Tomlin has not done as good in these last, Eight or nine years compared to the first eight or nine years when Cowher's players were gone and his coaches were gone.

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37.476 - 52.801 Unknown

Well, I mean... Thank you, Rod. Yeah, I mean, the Cowher's players thing to me is... I don't know. I hate that argument. You still have to coach a team. There was still a general manager there that was making these picks. It wasn't just all about Bill Cowher.

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Chapter 2: What are the arguments for firing Mike Tomlin?

52.841 - 71.259 Unknown

But, yeah, I would... I said at the end of last year that I felt like there just needed to be a change there. And, yes, if I were the owner, I would say I'm going to just try something different now. You know, maybe there is a little bit of a lost voice in the locker room, even though they win every year. But just something has to change.

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71.759 - 84.831 Unknown

And I know that you're not supposed to listen to the fans, listen to the fans, listen to the fans, and the fans just show up still or into it. But, I mean, it just feels like it's the time. It felt like it was the time last year, quite frankly.

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84.811 - 106.333 Unknown

I look at Mike Tomlin, and the only failure I could give you is that they weren't able to get back to a Super Bowl when they had that combination of Ben, who was still playing at a high level, Le'Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown, and a top-ten defense. That team right there, underachieved.

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106.553 - 127.992 Gio

And unfortunately, that team was going against Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and, you know... Those great quarterbacks and those great teams. I mean, like, it's just you're part of an era. You know, my era was Joe Montana. Yeah. I mean, he got a bunch of us. Right. You know, Jim Kelly's era, I would say, was probably more like their teams were Troy Aikman. Right. And the Cowboys.

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128.152 - 134.757 Gio

And you're running these great teams, and then, you know, they have their runs. Like, Patrick Bones had his run.

Chapter 3: How does Mike Tomlin's coaching compare to Bill Cowher's tenure?

134.857 - 152.145 Gio

And, you know, even though Lamar hasn't made it to the Super Bowl, I mean, he's been an impediment to Josh Allen. in a way that like Joe Burrow has been an impediment, maybe Lamar Jackson. I mean, like you got all these great quarterbacks that are going toe to toe. And that's why, you know, to me, you know,

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152.952 - 166.838 Gio

Josh Allen getting to the Super Bowl this year is going to be really difficult because of the two teams he's now got to go through. He's got to go through Denver, and most likely he's going to have to go – I think he's going to have to go through – I think he's got to go through the Texans.

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167.499 - 172.889 Gio

I believe that if they have to go through the Patriots, they already know that they can beat the Patriots because they did so up there.

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173.169 - 197.643 Unknown

Right. Yeah. I mean, the other – He mentioned the coordinators and the coaches. I do think that that is a big point with Mike Tomlin, and something that's been discussed with John Harbaugh as well. He's been through a lot of offensive coordinators, but when Dick LeBeau was there and Bruce Arians were there and Ben was still there, that really was the best that they ever were.

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198.425 - 200.127 Unknown

Ben had a big part in that, though.

200.147 - 200.547 Gio

Of course.

201.289 - 218.609 Unknown

Ben played, what, 18 years? Yeah, but Ben wasn't the same after Bruce Arians left either. So, you know, it's one of these things, you know, what's more important? It's a combination of everything. And Bruce Arians won a Super Bowl down there in Tampa with Tom Brady. He also won a Coach of the Year once he left and went to Indianapolis.

218.629 - 238.385 Unknown

And then Chuck Pagano had to step away because he was dealing with cancer. And then Bruce Arians came in and took that team to the playoffs. And they had... They had ushered Bruce Arians out the door there because they thought him and Ben were too close. It was just a really bad decision, and they brought in Todd Haley after that. Things were never really the same.

239.487 - 244.198 Unknown

Mike Tomlin's a Hall of Fame coach. He is. But that doesn't mean that there isn't a time...

Chapter 4: What factors contribute to Tomlin's perceived underachievement?

295.033 - 300.224 Gio

Does he want to continue to stay and do what he's doing? Or does he want to go to TV? Or does he want to go coach another team?

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300.244 - 322.108 Unknown

You know, I mean... Everybody keeps saying TV for Mike Tomlin. That seems to be the thing if he's going to leave. But I don't think the Steelers fire him. But if the Steelers do say that enough is enough. But you've got to remember, too, if you look at the end of the Kevin Colbert era there and the beginning of the Omar Khan era there.

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322.349 - 324.591 Gio

That's the GMs you're talking about. Yep.

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324.723 - 337.606 Unknown

The drafts have not been good. They've been really bad. Obviously, they got T.J. Watt, but a lot of these players, if you look, they had to go out and get them in free agency.

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337.726 - 352.673 Gio

This is where the Houston Texans have really excelled. The Detroit Lions, the Houston Texans, the Green Bay Packers. The Eagles. The Eagles. Eagles, young teams, you fill a back-end guy, maybe an older guy as kind of a depth player.

353.174 - 373.047 Gio

But when you take a look at the way that the Houston Texans were built through the draft over the last four drafts, and you see all these players out on the field making all these plays, and you see how fast they are, I mean, basically the entire sporting world is about who's got the fastest guys on the court, on the ice, on the field.

373.688 - 377.633 Gio

Maybe with the exception of baseball, and in that case, it's who's throwing the ball the hardest.

377.813 - 378.695 Unknown

Yeah, that's right.

378.715 - 393.795 Gio

Who's staying the healthiest. It is. You see these drafts that some of these teams have, and when it finally comes to fruition, and you see how that defense by the Texans played last night, and you look at their roster and look at all these young guys on that team that were drafted by that team,

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