The Pomp And Joe Show
10AM - It's past time for the Steelers and Mike Tomlin to part ways; Aaron Rodgers doesn't think there should be talk around firing Mike Tomlin
13 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: Why do some believe it's time for the Steelers to part ways with Mike Tomlin?
And it's second and three.
Big toss. Wide open. Spinning catch.
Kirk touchdown. Strong play and a good catch by Kirk. Ball a little behind him and the Texans have their first lead of the night. Stroud in trouble. Finds a place to go and he's picked. Echols has got it. Another turnover by this Texans offense. Extra offensive lineman in there, Fisher. Here's a little pitch back to Stroud, looking to air it out. Ball's out. Recovered by Pittsburgh and Y.A.
Chapter 2: What did Aaron Rodgers say about Mike Tomlin's job security?
Black. Steeler ball knocked out by Jack Sawyer. First down and goal ball back outside the 10, as Mark says, his first 100-yard game and takes it into the end zone for a touchdown. They're down at 12. Rodgers, time runs out. Ball is out. It's picked up by the Texans and Sheldon Rankins. And he is in for a touchdown. Continue to coach.
If he's let go, there will be a lot of suitors knocking on his door for that as well. Here's an interception for good measure. It's picked off by Bullock. And Rodgers is in his way trying to make the tackle. Can't. And it's a touchdown, Texans.
Chapter 3: How has Mike Tomlin's playoff performance been evaluated?
I'm not even in that mindset as I sit here tonight. I'm more in the mindset of what transpired in the stadium and, you know, certainly what we did and didn't do. Not a big picture mentality to sit here tonight.
I mean, this league has changed a lot in my 21 years. You know, when you hear a conversation about the Mike Tomlins of the world, Matt LaFleur's of the world, those are just two that kind of I've played for. And when I first got in the league, there wouldn't be conversation about whether those guys were on the hot seat.
You know, but the way that the league is covered now and the way that there's snap decisions and the ā validity given to the you know the twitter experts and all the you know experts on tv now who who who make it seem like they know what the hell they're talking about to me that's an absolute joke and for either of those two guys to be in a hot seat is uh
is really apropos of where we're at as a society and a league because obviously Matt's done a lot of great things in Green Bay and we had a lot of success. Mike T's had more success than damn near anybody in the league, you know, for the last 19, 20 years.
Yeah, sorry, but Aaron Rodgers is full of crap on that one. He really is. And shout out to Rodgers for serving this city and his team well this season. It ended horribly. But the story today is Mike Tomlin, and what Rodgers said there is just not accurate.
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Chapter 4: What historical coaching changes are referenced in the discussion?
This isn't about the Twitterverse or short spans of attention or people getting swayed by outside forces. This is about a head coach who can't get it done anymore. Period. And if Rodgers wants to go back to when he came into the league in 2005, I've got plenty of examples of guys who at that time were having sustained success or were about to and would be fired.
Of course, I could go all the way back to Tom Landry. I'm sure Rodgers, as a student of the history of the game... knows that Tom Landry got pushed out of Dallas and Tony Dungy out of Tampa Bay, etc.
But when he came into the league, when Rodgers came into the league in 2005, among those coaches employed who were having success or were about to have major success and still get fired were Andy Reid and Philadelphia. Multiple conference championship games and a Super Bowl appearance. He won basically every year. Fired. Brian Billick was in Baltimore at the time.
Had one of the legendary teams of all time. Won a Super Bowl. Fired.
Chapter 5: Why is Mike Tomlin's coaching tenure being scrutinized now?
John Fox in Carolina, which was barely in the league at that point. Super Bowl appearance. Multiple division titles. Fired. Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati takes over a Morabund franchise, and Morabund is a good word, limits, and takes them to success they hadn't seen since Boomer Esiason. Several playoff appearances. Fired. Marty Schottenheimer.
In San Diego, 47-33 there and coming off a 14-2 season in which they had the best record in football but couldn't win in the playoffs, lost to New England, fired. Tom Coughlin? Yeah, he was with the Giants at that point.
When Rodgers came into the league, and as history tells us and as anybody knows, he went on to beat the Patriots, including the unbeaten Patriots in the Super Bowl, and he beat them twice. took away two Super Bowls from Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Well, what happened to him at the end? It was a, quote, mutual parting of the ways, but Coughlin said he still wanted to coach.
Chapter 6: What are the implications of the Steelers' playoff losing streak?
He was pushed out. Maybe Rodgers forgot that his coach in Green Bay, who had all kinds of success, had basically an identical resume to Mike Tomlin, beat Mike Tomlin in a Super Bowl, fired. John Harbaugh, who has an even more identical resume, if we want to update the story, fired, but only after, what, 18 seasons? So the whole society's gone to pot. We don't have any patience anymore.
Why do we talk about firing coaches like Matt LaFleur and Mike Tomlin is a bogus narrative that makes no sense and has no basis in fact. Period. It's time for the Steelers to part ways with Mike Tomlin. If you want to do it the Coughlin way, do it. A mutual parting of the ways in which he was told behind closed doors. It's time. Bob is not here, but his mannequin is over there.
Limits, how are you today? Angry, disturbed, and frustrated by what I watched in person. You were in person.
Chapter 7: How does the current narrative around Tomlin compare to past coaches?
Were there fire Tomlin chants near the end? Not that I heard. Brian Backo reported that there were some, a smattering, a splattering, something like that. He said the same. The real splattering was what the Texans did to Mike Tomlin's team. And what the Texans' defense did to Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, on the field last night. And this is only getting worse. This isn't getting any better.
It's only getting worse. It was the worst home playoff loss in the history of the franchise. It should have been the worst loss, period. It should have been about 45-6 if C.J. Stroud didn't go full Bill Buckner for the first half. You had the other team blasting Renegade in their locker room.
Chapter 8: What potential future scenarios are discussed for Tomlin and the Steelers?
the worst yardage differential in a Steeler playoff game. And oh, speaking of Marvin Lewis and Marty Schottenheimer, Tomlin passed up Schottenheimer and tied Marvin Lewis for the longest playoff losing streak in the history of the NFL at seven games. So you tell me what's going to change. What is going to change? And more to the point, more to the point here,
Why is it that Tomlin is largely viewed as the guy who's going to make the call? Why is this different than Harbaugh? Bunches of national media were supportive of the Harbaugh firing, but this, can't do this. Tomlin makes the call. He makes the call on this one. Let's wait and see what Mike wants to do. Bill Belichick didn't make the call. And he won six Super Bowls.
Pete Carroll didn't make the call in Seattle. Andy Reid didn't make the call in Philly. Or Harbaugh in Baltimore. Or Fox in Carolina or Billick in Baltimore. Or Schottenheimer in San Diego or Coughlin with the Giants. McCarthy in Green Bay. Dungy in Tampa. But what are we doing here?
And yet I turn on the television this morning limits to NFL Network and I hear Tom Pellicero's reporting, which, by the way, I believe is accurate. I don't think Art knows what to do at this point. I don't think he knows what to do. And I don't know that he has the spine to do what needs to be done for everybody's sake.
Mike Tomlin has been, as I've said many times here, a great representative of the city of Pittsburgh and a really good football coach. And it's time to move on. Everybody moves on at some point. Tom Landry was fired in Dallas. He's a guy that Tomlin himself used as an example the other day when Harbaugh got fired. Nobody can be Tom Landry anymore. You are Tom Landry. You once had great success.
You've stayed too long and you can't win the biggest games anymore. A missed field goal got you to this point and now it's time and it's just going to get uglier from here. Why would Tomlin want to put himself through this? What's the draft going to be like? A fire Tomlin festival? And then he opens next season with everybody waiting.
And every time things go sour, that's what it's going to turn into again. It's just time. In fact, it's past time. And yet I hear Pellicero say this on NFL Network this morning.
That is going to be a conversation, of course, that involves the owner, Art Rooney, who has never shown any interest in moving on from Mike Tomlin. But certainly for Mike Tomlin, who is now 19 years into his career in Pittsburgh, there will come at some time a point at which perhaps it's best for everyone involved to move on.
That is a conversation, from my understanding, that would have to be initiated by Mike Tomlin if he were to decide to step away from coaching altogether or if potentially he would want to go ā Rooney coming to Mike Tomlin and saying, we want to trade you. We want to hire a new head coach.
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