Are Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh's jobs at stake? Unlikely, but marriages can be fickle
Knowing when to divorce can be one of the toughest, most important roles for any successful ownership group. And sometimes coaches want out.
Maybe it’s more than just a division title and playoff berth at stake this weekend. Maybe the loser between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers actually will have to begin a rare coaching search next week.
I have a hard time believing either of those owners, two of the best in the league, would end relationships that have spanned nearly 20 years because of one loss. Owners like Steve Bisciotti in Baltimore and the Rooneys in Pittsburgh seem far too calculated for an emotional win-or-else mandate. Harbaugh and Tomlin have coached more than 300 games for their organizations. Do they really need one more to figure out what comes next? I find it far more likely the decision on both sides has already been made, regardless of the outcome of Sunday night’s game.
Tomlin and Harbaugh are the two longest tenured coaches in the NFL. Tomlin arrived in Pittsburgh in 2007, and Harbaugh joined him in the AFC North a year later. Each has won a Super Bowl. Either would be the top name on a thin coaching market if he suddenly became available.
Knowing when to divorce, even after such a successful marriage, is perhaps one of the toughest and most important roles for any successful ownership group in sports.
Eventually, all voices run out. It happened with Andy Reid in Philadelphia and Phil Jackson in the NBA and Terry Francona in Major League Baseball. All of them champions and Hall of Famers (either current or future). All of them knew when it was time to go.
Are Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh coaching for their jobs on Sunday night? Seems crazy to even think about:#NFL #HereWeGo #RavensFlock pic.twitter.com/vLR4mTaMIo
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) December 30, 2025
In a sport like the NFL, where a new head coach typically arrives every three or four years, the most successful ones typically have supportive and stable owners behind them.
All owners say they want to win, and most will spend in order to win, but what does that really mean? Unless it’s the New York Mets or Los Angeles Dodgers, spending doesn’t mean what it once did. Mammoth television contracts in the NFL and NBA make spending relatively easy for most teams.
Baseball’s payroll system is completely broken and doesn’t apply here, but the leagues with salary caps generally spend within a close range of each other. Nobody spends more than the Cleveland Browns, but hardly any team wins less. Clearly, it’s more than just spending to make a good owner or organization.