It was quite a moonshot by the Bears to inquire about trading for Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, one of the most accomplished coaches in NFL history. That proved completely unrealistic.
“It really didn’t go very far,” Steelers president Art Rooney II told KDKA, the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh this week. “We weren’t interested in really pursuing it, and so it was a pretty short conversation.”
Tomlin, 52, has been the Steelers’ head coach since 2007 and has never had a losing season. He won a Super Bowl and has made the playoffs in 12 of 18 seasons. Speculation about the Steelers moving on from him was rooted in the fact that they haven’t won a playoff game since 2016, but in fairness to Tomlin, he’s had to make it work with less-than-ideal quarterbacks the last few seasons.
Trading a coach is much different than trading a player. When a coach gets traded, it’s typically because that coach wants to move to a new team, like Sean Payton did in going from the Saints to the Broncos in 2023. Payton had effectively retired from the Saints, then decided he wanted to take the Broncos job, but was still under contract. The Broncos had to send the Saints a first- and second-round pick for Payton and a third-rounder.
The Bears moved along and hired Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson on Jan. 20.
The Bears host the Steelers next season, which could mean the return of former quarterback Justin Fields if he re-signs with Pittsburgh.