Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin exits postgame news conference after question about contract status.

Mike Tomlin dislikes having his future in Pittsburgh questioned.

After the Steelers lost to the Bills 31–17 in a wild-card game, Mike Tomlin quickly departed the stage when a reporter in Pittsburgh’s postgame news conference asked him, “Mike, you have a year left on your contract.”

Before opening things up to media, the 51-year-old started his time at the platform by thanking his opponent for a valiant victory, looking at what Pittsburgh did to score 21 early points against Buffalo, and providing injury reports.

He answered questions about the performance of quarterback Mason Rudolph, Buffalo’s tight end usage, T.J. Watt’s absence, Pittsburgh’s turnovers, and the team’s incapacity to generate a run game.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the contract matter was a bridge too far.

Tomlin’s contract expires after the 2024 season, and there have been rumors recently that he may leave the team one year early. And although it was quite unlikely that he would return for an 18th season after such a brazen exit, it was evident that he would need time to contemplate another playoff defeat before offering a clear image of what lied ahead.

In his illustrious head coaching career to date, Tomlin has amassed a 173-100-2 record, made two visits to the Super Bowl (winning one), and made eleven postseason appearances.

In spite of a rather turbulent 2023 season, he also set a new NFL record with 17 straight winning seasons to begin a career.

The way the Black and Gold have lost on Monday is a microcosm of the resiliency Tomlin and his teams have shown while he has been their manager.

The Steelers slid into a 21-0 deficit that persisted into the first half’s two-minute warning while they were without their captain, Watt.

But the Steelers rallied, and with 1:43 left in the game, Rudolph hit Diontae Johnson for a 10-yard touchdown. Over the following 21 minutes, the Steelers outscored the Bills, 17-3, to tie the game at one score at the 10-minute point in the fourth quarter.

Buffalo pulled away once more to eliminate Pittsburgh, even though they put on a strong fight. Pittsburgh just began their comeback a little too late.

The defeat put an end to Pittsburgh’s unsatisfactory season, which also saw the team fire offensive coordinator Matt Canada, choose to ride the hot hand of Rudolph over second year first-round pick Kenny Pickett, and suffer two straight late-season losses to teams that had two wins at the time—the Cardinals and Patriots.