Mike Tomlin Extends Non-Losing Season Streak To 17 Years

With the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 30-23 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, Mike Tomlin has extended his well-noted NFL record of non-losing seasons to 17 in a row to start his coaching career, which no other coach in NFL history has ever accomplished. The Steelers improved to 9-7 and currently sit as the ninth seed in the AFC Playoff picture.

Only Tom Landry (21 seasons, 1965-1985) and Bill Belichick (19 seasons, 2001-2019) have more consecutive seasons without a losing record than Tomlin’s 17. Landry had five consecutive losing seasons to start his career with the Dallas Cowboys, while Belichick had losing seasons in Cleveland and in his first season in New England.

Overall, the Steelers haven’t had a losing season since 2003, which is by far the longest active streak in the NFL. It’s also the second-longest streak in NFL history behind just the Dallas Cowboys’ 21-year run from 1965-85. The Steelers finished 8-8 four times over the past two decades (2006, 2012, 2013 and 2018).

Since becoming the Steelers head coach in 2007, Tomlin has only coached one game that did not have playoff implications or matter to it. That was the Week 17 regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns in 2012.

While it’s impressive and speaks to the Steelers’ consistency, Tomlin pays no mind to his non-losing season streak, as he knows that’s not the main goal. Hoisting Lombardi’s is. Tomlin downplayed the accomplishment when asked about it after he broke the NFL record in 2021.

“Our agenda, this year, is to get into a single-elimination tournament and then pit our skills against others in that single-elimination tournament in an effort to win the world championship. That’s our mentality every year,” Tomlin said

Mike Tomlin holds an impressive 172-100-2 career regular-season record, but he’s 8-9 in the playoffs. And the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since 2016, the longest playoff win draught since pre-1972. They’ve won just three playoff games since 2011, over quarterbacks such as A.J. McCarron, Matt Moore and Alex Smith. That’s the crux with the Steelers and Tomlin from the fanbase right now. The Steelers are at least competitive every year, but they either miss the playoffs entirely or get blown out when they do make it.

If the Steelers end up not making the playoffs this season, it will be four out of the last six seasons without a postseason appearance. Furthermore, it would mean seven years without a playoff win. The Steelers will need to beat the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18 and hope for some help to get into the postseason and snap their streak without a playoff win. The Ravens clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC, so they could rest their starters.

The Steelers made the playoffs in 2021, thanks to a miraculous Week 18 upset by the Jacksonville Jaguars over the Indianapolis Colts and a Los Angeles Chargers’ win over the Las Vegas Raiders in overtime. The Steelers will be hoping for a repeat next Sunday.