Ben Roethlisberger and Mike Tomlin defined an entire era of Pittsburgh Steelers football, and the former quarterback reacted to the head coach stepping down Tuesday.
“Coach T, we got to spend 15 years together, and through the ups & downs it was a great ride,” Roethlisberger said on social media. “Thank you for all you did for me and this team, and this community! You are a legend, and one of the greatest to do it! Here is to the next chapter—whatever that looks like.”
Tomlin released a statement Tuesday explaining he was stepping down “after much thought and reflection.”
Steelers president Art Rooney II also released a statement confirming the coach’s decision and thanking him for “all the hard work, dedication and success we have shared over the last 19 years.”
Pittsburgh hired Tomlin as the head coach ahead of the 2007 campaign, which was Roethlisberger’s fourth season.
The quarterback made his first of six Pro Bowls that year and then helped lead the Steelers to the Super Bowl title the following year. That Tomlin won the Super Bowl in his second season was remarkable, and the team returned to that stage in his fourth season as AFC champions.
Roethlisberger was Pittsburgh’s quarterback for the first 15 years of Tomlin’s 19-year tenure. He made all six of his Pro Bowls under Tomlin and threw for more than 4,000 yards six times. Two of those times came when he led the league in passing yards in 2014 and 2018.
He became a Steelers legend during his time with Tomlin and is the franchise’s all-time leader in completions, passing yards and passing touchdowns. The Steelers inducted him into their Hall of Honor during the 2025 campaign.
Perhaps Tomlin will eventually join him in that Hall of Honor, as he led the team to the playoffs in 13 of his 19 seasons and lifted the Lombardi Trophy. The lack of playoff success has become a point of criticism lately considering Pittsburgh’s last postseason win came during the 2016 campaign, but the team was also among the most consistent throughout his tenure.
Ironically, it was Roethlisberger who acknowledged some of that criticism during the 2025 season when he said on his podcast, “Maybe it’s a clean-house time. Maybe it is, maybe it’s time. And I like Coach Tomlin. I have a lot of respect for Coach Tomlin. But maybe it’s best for him, too.”
Yet he walked those comments back and said, “Just because I said there’s a time for some new things, that’s just saying that I think Coach Tomlin—if he wants to move on, he has every right to move on, it’s not they should. It’s up to him, and he’s earned that right. If he wants to do something else, he can and he should and we should honor him whenever that time comes. Maybe he wants to coach here for another 10 years, that’s fine too.”
Ultimately, Tomlin decided it was time to move on, and his former quarterback had nothing but positive things to say about him Tuesday.
