“The standard is the standard.” That is one of the many quotes that Pittsburgh Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin, is known for. It essentially means that the standard that the Steelers franchise set long before he arrived in Pittsburgh is one that he and his team must strive toward.
However, that standard was not met in the team’s humbling 26–7 defeat to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
The score doesn’t indicate how thoroughly the Steelers were dominated, but this stat does: The Bills ran for 249 yards on 51 carries, many of them the same running play ran over and over again. Those 249 yards are the most ever allowed by the Steelers in their home venue of Acrisure Stadium, which opened in 2001.
Late in the game, and when those in attendance could sense that the team was headed to its fifth defeat over its last seven games, the Steelers’ faithful let their displeasure be known. A chant of “Fire Tomlin” broke out, as Steelers Nation sees the “standard” as not being met, not only in this defeat, and not only in recent weeks, but over the last few years.
In his postgame press conference, Tomlin was asked about the chants. He didn’t directly address himself potentially being on the hot seat but he also implied the team didn’t live up to the standard in the defeat.
“Man, I share their frustrations tonight,” Tomlin responded. “We didn’t do enough. That’s just the reality of it.”
The game featured Aaron Rodgers’ return to play after missing last week’s defeat to a wrist injury on his non-throwing hand. Rodgers looked every bit like a quarterback who is about to turn 42 years old on Tuesday playing through injury, as he struggled throughout. He completed less than half of his passes (10 for 21) for just 117 yards, while also losing a fumble. His 47.6 completion percentage is his lowest in five years, and he’s now thrown 161 or fewer yards in each of his last three games.
Rodgers wasn’t directly asked about the “Fire Tomlin” chants, but he was asked by a reporter if the team wasn’t well-prepared for the loss to Buffalo. The four-time MVP winner, clearly, took exception to the question and had a testy retort to the reporter in defense of Tomlin and the coaching staff.
“I know what you’re trying to ask, and I’m not going to go down that road at all,” Rodgers said. “I believe in the coaching staff. I believe in Mike Tomlin, that’s why I came here. Players need to take accountability, myself included, and I will continue to. I’ve got to play better.
“But there’s 11 starters on offense, 11 on defense, plus with the personnel groupings we run. We’re gonna have a Monday to Saturday that we can be really proud of, then go out and play our best game [versus the Baltimore Ravens in Week 14] and take control of the division.”
The loss dropped Pittsburgh to 6–6 as it is tied with Baltimore for first place in the AFC North. However, the Ravens currently have the tiebreaker edge, so they sit atop the division, while the Steelers are the current ninth seed in the AFC, leaving them two spots behind the last playoff berth.
However, the frustrations of some Pittsburgh fans go way back before this season, as the Steelers have lost six straight playoff games. That’s tied with the Miami Dolphins for the longest active streak in the NFL, as it has been eight seasons since the Steelers won a postseason game under Tomlin.
When Pittsburgh last won a playoff game in January 2018, the teams’ 2025 first-round pick, Derrick Harmon, was a 14-year-old high school freshman.
That lack of recent success, for some, overshadows what Tomlin has done over the length of his career in Pittsburgh. He won a Super Bowl in his second season in 2008 but that was 17 years ago. The Steelers then made it to another Super Bowl two years later, coincidentally losing to Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. But they haven’t come close to that kind of success since.
Tomlin racked up five playoff wins over his first four NFL seasons but he has just three postseason victories in the ensuing 14 years.
Those hoping the Steelers fire Tomlin clearly aren’t familiar with another “standard” in Pittsburgh, and that’s the one the franchise has with its head coaches. Tomlin is just the third Steelers head coach over the last 57 NFL seasons. And the previous two—Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher—only left via retirement. Even when they had down years, or down stretches that lasted multiple years, the franchise stuck by them, just as it has done with Tomlin during his recent rough stretch.
Those “Fire Tomlin” chants will surely become less audible if the Steelers make a late-season run to the playoffs, which is certainly possible. Over their last five games, just one comes versus a team above .500, and Pittsburgh is 4–1 this season against teams that are currently .500 or below.
