Mike Tomlin’s future with the Steelers organization seems pretty solidified and now he will be faced with figuring out some of the issues that plagued Pittsburgh this season.
One of those big issues will be finding a new person to run the offense after the midseason firing of Matt Canada.
Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan had taken over the duties after Canada was let go, but Tomlin told reporters on Thursday that he would be going outside the organization to find the Steelers next offensive coordinator.
“I want us to be versatile and dynamic,” Tomlin said “Obviously we got to score more points. I want to be able to keep defenses off-balance. I want to utilize all the talent that we have at our disposal. I’m excited about this process and the talent pool out there.”
Despite making the playoffs and Tomlin extending his streak of non-losing seasons to 17, the Steelers offense was not one of the better ones in 2023.
Their 17.8 points per game was 28th in the NFL during the regular season.
The job also will be handed over to someone who already has experience in the position, he told reporters.
Finding the right offensive coordinator isn’t the only matter for Tomlin to sort out, he’s also going to have to make some decisions with at quarterback.
Though it seems he already has determined that Kenny Pickett will resume the starter role in 2024, Tomlin did add that the Steelers “don’t anoint anyone” and that there would be “competition.”
Pickett hasn’t exactly taken the starter position by storm and Mason Rudolph turned in solid performances at the end of the season when he started.
“I cannot underscore how impressive it is to be ready — forget performance man — to be ready to deliver, and he was,” Tomlin said of Rudolph. “And that preparedness showed, and so certainly we are less speculative about his capabilities because there’s evidence of it, evidence of it in tough circumstances.”
Tomlin said he would like to have Rudolph back as well next season.
The Steelers are coming off a loss to the Bills in the AFC wild-card round on Monday, and there had been speculation about Tomlin’s future.
He stormed out of his postgame press conference after the loss, further fueling the speculation before it came out earlier this week that he was returning for the 2024 season.
Tomlin apologized for the way he handled the question during his news conference on Thursday and told reporters he expected to get an extension done over the offseason.
