When is it time to part with a Super Bowl coach? Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh in rare territory
As Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh meet for a playoff spot, they're pushing historical boundaries for seasons without a Super Bowl title.
The Baltimore Ravens’ John Harbaugh and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin are great coaches with solid Hall of Fame credentials.
They have also gone a combined 30 full regular seasons without winning a Super Bowl. That’s 17 for Tomlin and 13 for Harbaugh entering their teams’ loser-out, winner-to-the-playoffs matchup Sunday to close the 2025 regular season.
When is it time for teams with long-serving great coaches to head in another direction?
Don Shula lasted 22 seasons with the Miami Dolphins after his final Super Bowl victory, longest for any coach with at least 200 games and a Super Bowl title coaching the same team. Tomlin is second on that list, and Harbaugh is third.
Tomlin, whose contract will expire after 2026 unless the team exercises a 2027 option this March, is in his 15th season since reaching a Super Bowl (17th since winning one). Harbaugh, who signed a three-year extension nine months ago, is in his 13th since his only Super Bowl appearance. That’s longer than the 11 seasons Shula went between his final Super Bowl appearance and his final season with the Dolphins.
Tomlin’s next regular-season victory will tie him with Chuck Noll for ninth on the all-time list with 193. Noll won four Super Bowls as the Steelers’ coach from 1969 to 1991, but he had only two playoff victories in four appearances over his final 12 seasons.
In retrospect, the Steelers probably should have moved on from Noll earlier, but these are gut-wrenching decisions to make.
The Seattle Seahawks could become a model in this regard. They parted with Pete Carroll after a 14-season run featuring nine playoff victories, two Super Bowl appearances and one championship over his first seven seasons, but just one playoff win thereafter.
Carroll’s successor, Mike Macdonald, has a 23-10 record (.697) through two seasons, an improvement from Carroll’s 18-16 (.529) mark in his final two.
Seattle can secure the NFC’s top seed with a victory over San Francisco in Week 18. If the Seahawks win a playoff game, it’ll be their first postseason victory since a wild-card win over Philadelphia after the 2019 season.
The video above takes a closer look at Tomlin, Harbaugh and other long-tenured coaches, contextualizing the Steelers’ and Ravens’ postseason droughts.