While the Steelers have had winning seasons over the years, they haven’t had a playoff victory since 2016 and Rooney acknowledged on Monday that it’s starting to reach a tipping point.
Pittsburgh’s season came to a quick end in the playoffs with a loss to the Bills in the NFL Wildcard round earlier this month after an up-and-down 2023 campaign.
“We’ve had enough of this,” Rooney said, according to ESPN. “It’s time to get some wins; it’s time to take these next steps.”
The Steelers have made postseason appearances in four of the last seven years, but have been knocked out in the Wildcard round in 2020, 2021 and 2023.
The club hasn’t won a Super Bowl since 2008 and their last appearance in the “Big Game” hasn’t occurred since 2010.
“Certainly, there’s a resolve there and a determination there,” Rooney said. “And I think I said before, I think all of us that have been around for a little while are anxious to take this next step — and getting a little impatient — and we need to see the kind of improvement we all want to see. [Head coach Mike Tomlin] believes that as firmly as anybody else in the building.”
While Rooney expressed confidence in Tomlin to do the job, the Steelers’ owner’s comments were as close as he’s come to putting the head coach on notice.
Tomlin has been the Steelers’ coach for 17 seasons, posting a 175-100-2 record.
There had been some speculation that Tomlin would resign from his post with the Steelers and he further fanned those flames after he walked out of his postgame press conference after the wild card loss when a reporter asked him about his future in Pittsburgh.
It came out shortly after that he would be staying and Rooney expressed confidence in Tomlin’s ability to lead next season.
“The players still respond to Mike, and that’s No. 1,” Rooney said. “He still has the key characteristics that we saw when we hired him. He can keep the attention of a group of 20-year-olds for a whole season and keep them in the fight for the whole way.
“So, still feel good about Mike. Obviously if I didn’t, [we] would make a change, but if we didn’t think Mike was able to lead us to a championship, he wouldn’t be here, and that’s why he is here.”
