It didn’t take lengthy for the main focus to shift from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season-ending loss to the futures of Mike Tomlin and Aaron Rodgers.
Tomlin and Rodgers declined to expound on the uncertainty round their returns after Monday night time’s 30-6 dwelling loss to the Houston Texans within the wild-card spherical of the playoffs.
“I’m not going to make any emotional decisions,” Rodgers mentioned. “Disappointed. Obviously, such a fun year. A lot of adversity, but a lot of fun. Been a great year overall in my life, the last year, and this is a really good part of that, coming here and being a part of this team. So it’s disappointing to be sitting here with the season over.”
Rodgers, 42, may take into account retirement after his twenty first NFL season, and the quarterback acknowledged after Monday’s defeat that he’ll now “get away and have the right conversations” about what comes subsequent.
In the meantime, there stays rampant hypothesis over whether or not Tomlin and the Steelers may half methods after 19 seasons with him as head coach, together with 9 in a row with out a playoff victory.
“I’m not even in that mindset as I sit here tonight,” Tomlin mentioned. “I’m more in the mindset of what transpired in this stadium, and certainly what we did and didn’t do. Not a big-picture mentality as I sit here tonight.”
Rodgers, a Tremendous Bowl champion and four-time NFL MVP, spent his first 18 seasons with the Inexperienced Bay Packers.
He then endured a disappointing two-year tenure with the Jets, throughout which he missed virtually all the 2023 season on account of an Achilles tear earlier than going 5-12 in 2024.
After the Jets launched him, Rodgers signed a one-year contract with the Steelers in June and helped cause them to a 10-7 file and their first AFC North title since 2020. Rodgers handed for 3,322 yards and 24 touchdowns with seven interceptions in 16 video games within the common season.
Pittsburgh’s offense struggled, nevertheless, towards the Texans’ dominant protection, which scored two defensive touchdowns and restricted Rodgers to 17-of-33 passing for 146 yards and an interception.
Rodgers’ remaining cross was intercepted by Calen Bullock, who returned it 50 yards for a landing.
In the meantime, Tomlin is a Tremendous Bowl champion with a profession file of 193-114-2. He has by no means completed with a dropping season as a head coach, however the Steelers have misplaced every of their final seven playoff video games.
Tomlin can be anticipated to obtain appreciable curiosity from groups with an open head-coach job — the Giants are amongst these with a emptiness — however some imagine he would take into account taking a break from teaching and go into TV subsequent season.
“Mike T. has had more success than damn near anybody in the league for the last 19, 20 years,” Rodgers mentioned.
“More than that, though, when you have the right guy and the culture is right, you don’t think about making a change. But there’s a lot of pressure that comes from the outside, and obviously that sways decisions from time to time. But it’s not how I would do things and not how the league used to be.”
