Steelers News: Mike Tomlin Gears Up to Overtake Chuck Knox and Dan Reeves in Coaching Wins Despite Recent Playoff Failures

   

Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers have been the NFL’s pillar of consistency ever since the franchise first signed the former Vikings defensive coordinator back in 2007. Since then, Tomlin has famously never produced a losing regular-season record.

There may not be any recent playoff success to point to, but the franchise has still managed to secure five consecutive winning seasons going back to 2020, the third-longest active streak in the NFL today. Heading into the 2025 regular season, Tomlin needs just seven more victories to become one of the top 10 most-winning play callers in NFL history. 

Steelers News: Mike Tomlin Gears Up to Overtake Chuck Knox and Dan Reeves in Coaching Wins Despite Recent Playoff Failures

Since 2007, Tomlin has coached a total of 292 games while winning 183 of them, the 12th highest total of all time. The former head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, Chuck Knox, currently holds the 11th spot in the all-time rankings with 186. 

Likewise, the former play caller for the Denver Broncos, Dan Reeves, who helped his franchise claim three separate AFC Championships throughout the late 1980s, guards the top 10 rankings with 190 career wins. That puts Tomlin well within striking distance of both men’s records. 

Simply put, so long as Tomlin is able to continue doing what he has for the past 18 years, he’ll figure to become the 10th most-winning head coach in NFL history somewhere in the back half of this very season. Seeing as he’s never produced anything less than eight wins in any given season, oddsmakers appear to be banking on Tomlin to deliver when it matters most. 

 

Pittsburgh’s win total for the 2025 season currently rests at a reasonable total of 8.5 wins. The Steelers are one of the few teams that will start the 2025 season with a completely new quarterback, WR1, and potentially even RB1. 

Nevertheless, both fans and analysts alike appear to be relying not on the form of Aaron Rodgers and co., but rather on the consistency of Tomlin. The 53-year-old veteran has an unprecedented track record, so even though there’s been an ample amount of changes to the roster throughout the offseason, there’s little reason to suspect that he won’t continue his winning traditions.

When it comes to most coaching wins in Steelers history, however, there’s still some work to be done. Four-time Super Bowl champion and NFL Hall of Famer, Chuck Noll, still holds Pittsburgh’s franchise record with 193 wins, 10 more than Tomlin. 

Conveniently enough, that’s the exact amount of wins that the Steelers have been able to tally throughout each of the last two seasons. Nevertheless, the aforementioned line set by the oddsmakers suggests that another 10-win season may be a bit of a long shot for Pittsburgh in 2025.

So long as Tomlin is able to defend his historic tradition, he’ll easily clear the likes of Reeves and Knox. However, fans may have to wait one more season before seeing the all-time play caller break his predecessor’s coveted franchise record, assuming he isn’t fired next offseason for a lack of playoff wins, that is.