Mike Tomlin wasn’t ready to discuss his future in the aftermath of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills on Monday.
In fact, he wasn’t even willing to listen to a question about his status.
At the postgame press conference, a reporter began a question with, “Mike, you have a year left on your contract.” At that point, Tomlin exited the room.
The Steelers fell 31-17 to the Bills in Orchard Park, N.Y. Buffalo led Pittsburgh 21-0 in the first half and was never truly threatened after the break.
After Bill Belichick parted ways with the New England Patriots earlier this month, Tomlin, 51, now has the longest tenure of any NFL head coach, having just completed his 17th year on the job in Pittsburgh.
The Steelers, who went 10-7 in the regular season, have never had a losing season during Tomlin’s reign. He guided Pittsburgh to a Super Bowl title after the 2008 season, then got the Steelers back to the Super Bowl after the 2010 season.
This year was a bit rocky for the Steelers, though, as they fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada in November and went through three starting quarterbacks (Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky and Mason Rudolph).
Pittsburgh earned wins in each of the last three regular-season games — vs. the Cincinnati Bengals and then on the road against both the Seattle Seahawks and the AFC North champion Baltimore Ravens — to claim a playoff berth.