With the Steelers 5-8, at the bottom of the AFC North and almost but assured to miss the playoffs, naturally, questions about the head coach are going to arise.
Mike Tomlin could very well be staring down the first losing season of his head coaching career.
During his weekly press conference on Tuesday ahead of Sunday’s game in Carolina, Tomlin seemed acknowledge the reality of the situation they are in.
He didn’t sounds like someone who is leading a team that is going to make a big push at the end of the season.
He said he liked a lot of what he saw from his guys in Sunday’s loss to Baltimore.
A 16-14 loss that saw quarterback Mitch Trubisky throw three interceptions and a loss to a third-string quarterback who couldn’t throw the ball.
Doesn’t seem like there was a lot of positives following that game.
The disappointing season has people like Colin Dunlap asking why Tomlin can’t at least be on the hot seat. In his opinion, Dunlap thinks it’s time to move on from the longtime head coach.
But could there be another solution?
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio says “it wouldn’t surprise me” if Tomlin was traded to Carolina in the offseason.
The Panthers and Steelers are connected in a big way.
Current Carolina owner David Tepper used to be a minority owner of the Steelers.
The Panthers will be looking for a new coach after firing Matt Rhule during this season.
Trading a coach isn’t common, but it has happened in the past with the Jets trading Herm Edwards to the Chiefs in 2006 and Jon Gruden from the Radiers to the Buccaneers in 2002.
The Gruden deal gave the Raiders two first round picks.
While there is almost absolutely chance the Rooney’s fire or trade Tomlin, if they did want to move on from Tomlin, it would make sense for the Steelers to at least get something out of it.