The Pomp And Joe Show
Mark Kaboly on Mike Tomlin leaving Steelers, future of the franchise
14 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What recent news has emerged about Mike Tomlin's future with the Steelers?
The most incredible phenomenon in sports history simply continues. The Arizona Cardinals have requested permission to interview Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. So that's two now.
Tennessee is interested.
I'm just speechless on this every year. I'm just speechless. What do they see in Arthur Smith? Please tell me, Bob.
I don't know. I mean, there were some good games for him, but largely more of the same. I mean, the fact that he went to a head coaching position in Atlanta in three straight 7-10 seasons, comes here, and he's just been average at best. I don't look at that as saying, well, he's what we need as a head coach.
I'm just blown away by this.
But this whole league, isn't it about just recycling guys? A lot of guys have been and will continue to be recycled.
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Chapter 2: What are the implications of the Arizona Cardinals interviewing Arthur Smith?
All the candidates out there who are so enticing and interesting and nothing against Arthur seems like a really good guy. And he's been a decent coordinator. He's an average coordinator. He rode Derrick Henry's coattails to a job in Atlanta where he failed miserably. And now he's designing running plays for Johnnie Smith. What are we doing? What are the Arizona Cardinals thinking?
Why would you waste resources? on an interview with Arthur Smith. I guess that's why they're the Cardinals. I just don't understand.
I don't understand either. I mean, I understand guys who have a role that a lot of people look at and say, well, he's a coordinator. We can deal with him. He has a good philosophy, run football first, whatever.
But as a head coach, he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who would attain what I think you said at the beginning of this program with the next head coach here, some CEO type who's very good at understanding things, communicates, motivates. He doesn't strike me as that kind of a guy.
Bob, where did Limits go? Oh, there he is. He's there. Limits, what did Josina Anderson say about Tomlin?
Yeah, so I'm going to pull up the full thing that she said, but basically regarding Mike Tomlin that there was ā Excuse me, Bob.
I just had two pieces of pizza in like 10 seconds. What was that, a hiccup or a burp? I apologize.
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Chapter 3: How has Mike Tomlin's coaching style changed over the years?
God bless you.
But basically what Josina Anderson was indicating, she said, as a league source indicated to me over a week ago, and she'll tweet it now, John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin are at the very top of the Dolphins' wish list at the moment now, after Tomlin experienced some burnout. That Tomlin...
As she tweeted in November, there was a longtime coach that was contemplating a change of scenery, and it was Tomlin, as she's indicated recently.
She says the fact of the matters are, league sources heard that Tomlin was contemplating leaving Pittsburgh even before the season started, adding there's been a belief that Tomlin did not feel appreciated with contingents around the city believing he should be fired. Quote, I would say this has been building gradually for the last three years, the source opined to Josina Anderson.
You know, he can't have been surprised at that development. I had to laugh, and I wrote about this. Aaron Rodgers getting on his soapbox the other day. Oh, it wasn't like this when I came into the league. And I pointed out all the successful coaches who were in the league when he got in who were then fired. And I just saw a Sports Illustrated cover from 1988 today, Bob.
with Chuck Knoll and Tom Landry on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and the headline was, Under Fire. Have two legendary coaches lost their touch. This is the way it's always been. When you don't win the biggest games anymore for a long time, you're under fire. Mike Tomlin not only hasn't won the biggest games for a long time, He's been blown out in the majority of them for almost a decade.
Almost the amount of time that Jimmy Johnson, John Madden, Vince Lombardi, George Allen, and the like had in their entire careers were that long. He's been blown out of virtually every playoff game.
And I think what Rodgers is probably referring to without...
acknowledging what he was referring to is that it just there are too many ways now back then there weren't ways there were no social media nobody you heard it but you didn't hear it up close and personal in your face with dms and everything else so now you're hearing it that way that's what's changed nothing has changed with the process i think people are always under fire always you know coaches are hired to be fired essentially they are uh it doesn't matter who you are when it occurs
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Chapter 4: What did Josina Anderson report about Tomlin's feelings towards his position?
Oh, he's going to the Art Press Conference.
I'm standing outside the press gate right now at Accra Shore Stadium.
You're very dedicated. Oh, the press conference is at the stadium, huh? Yeah, it's at the stadium.
Yeah, Art Rooney will be talking here in about 30 minutes or so.
What do you expect him to say?
Oh, knowing Art, probably not a lot. But I'm sure... that he's not going to get into much of concerning why Mike left or what Mike told him why he decided to step down. It'll probably be more about the process of here moving forward and what they're looking for in timelines to that stance rather than anything else. But Art's normally pretty ā for a part, he's open ā
So I think that's the way he'll go. I just think he'll just look from this point forward, thank Mike and stuff like that. I don't think it's going to be anything but breaking news where a pony screams at the top of his head how happy he is when he hears what Art says, you know, stuff like that.
That was me taking a veiled shot of the breaking news yesterday, if you didn't want to, you didn't understand it.
Or a not-so-veiled shot, Bob, it sounded like. I don't know. I don't know.
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Chapter 5: What factors contributed to Mike Tomlin's decision to step down?
I don't know how that plays out moving forward. Really? Yeah. You have to win right away. Not right away, but you better win soon. You're not just going to get a decade. This guy's not walking into a prime Ben Roethlisberger like Tomlin was. That's A. And B, I disagree with both of you that this is some sort of plum job. There's no quarterback. There's an aging star base.
They go the shortcut route on staff, and there's questionable facilities on top of all that. This is not some kind of plum job right now in the NFL.
I don't think. I think it is viewed that way by coaches who know what they have to deal with. The logo. Well, I just think they know. The logo. Regardless of that, they need a quarterback. They have money to spend. And it could very well happen within the next couple of years. All right, let's address those. I'm just saying.
No quarterback.
Right. That's problematic. That could actually be an asset to them moving forward. Your best players are in their 30s and are shells of themselves. And then you get a gauge on him and then you draft someone in 2027. Absolutely.
How about the fact that you have Cam Hayward at the end of his career, TJ Watt on a horrible contract, DK Metcalf on a horrible contract, Jalen Ramsey an aging player as well. Your star base is aging, you have no quarterback, and you have an owner who likes to shortcut the staff. What about those three things?
Well, I think the owner would have to be open to whatever a new coach wants. And I think it's going to be possible to do that. Everything changes, but one thing that remains the same is that they're going to be patient. I think more than anything else I can tell a potential coach is they will be patient.
And if the draft works in your favor, and it will if they have, let's say next year is just an average season and they draft in the top 10.
right yeah so in 2027 they do have an opportunity to get that quarterback if you have pieces in place offensively you can see uh you know a turnaround rather substantially i think so i just think for me there's a lot more that goes into when i'm weighing a job with whether they'll be patient with me why are so many people already calling them are they not calling the new york giants
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