Mike Tomlin on the Hot Seat? Steelers Face Franchise Crossroads After Embarrassing Bills Loss on December 1, 2025

Pittsburgh is waking up on December 1, 2025 to a full-blown conversation about Mike Tomlin’s future after a humiliating 26–7 home loss to the Buffalo Bills that has rattled the franchise’s self-image. Acrisure Stadium rang with loud, sustained “Fire Tomlin” chants as the Steelers were gashed for a franchise home record 249 rushing yards and mustered only 166 yards of total offense, a performance many local observers are labeling rock bottom of Tomlin’s 19-year tenure.

Tomlin addressed those chants directly after the game, offering a blunt assessment instead of defensiveness. Asked about fans calling for his job, he said he shared their frustration and emphasized that the team “didn’t do enough” in any phase to compete with Buffalo. He added that he is “looking at everything” in the wake of the loss, signaling that changes across coaching staff and personnel are on the table as the Steelers try to salvage a season that has slipped from AFC contender to crisis.

The collapse has amplified national scrutiny. ESPN and other outlets highlighted that while Tomlin’s celebrated streak of non-losing seasons remains intact and the Steelers sit at 6–6, the team has not won a playoff game since 2016, a drought increasingly hard to square with the organization’s championship expectations. NFL insider Adam Schefter noted that it would still be “remarkable” in today’s league for a coach to go this long without postseason success and keep his job, even as he maintained that Tomlin remains a highly respected coach leaguewide.

The blowout has also emboldened Tomlin’s critics. Local and team-focused outlets are openly arguing that “this needs to be the end” for the veteran coach, framing Sunday’s defeat as the moment when lingering frustration hardened into a tipping point. One prominent Steelers columnist wrote that if this isn’t rock bottom, it’s hard to imagine what would be, citing the five losses in the last seven games and a sense that Tomlin’s voice has grown stale in the locker room and in the fan base.

At the same time, there are strong voices pushing back on the idea of an in-season firing. Former coaches and analysts, including some on national pregame shows, have argued that Tomlin’s issues stem more from roster construction than sideline acumen, insisting that blaming one of the league’s longest-tenured and most stable leaders may oversimplify deeper personnel and organizational problems.

All of it leaves the Steelers—and their fans—in an unfamiliar place: staring at the possibility of their first losing season since 2003, while debating whether a franchise defined by stability under Mike Tomlin is finally approaching the end of an era.