Aaron Rodgers has done the talking for Mike Tomlin with the Pittsburgh Steelers playoff-bound.
The Steelers head coach was seemingly on the hot seat during the middle stretch of the season. After a 5-1 start, Pittsburgh lost five of its next seven games to fall to 6-6. There was naturally some chatter about Tomlin being forced out at season’s end.
With the Steelers sneaking into the playoffs, Rodgers was vocal about the team being able to “shut all those comments down.”
“At 6-6, there were a lot of people thinking we were going to be stumbling to the finish, and then who knows what was going to happen,” Rodgers told reporters on Thursday. “A lot of you probably in this group, either publicly or privately, were talking about Mike T getting axed. So it feels good to shut all those comments down.
“They’ve gotta try to find something to get after him. Mike T’s probably like me. Doesn’t give a whole lot of s— about any of those comments. But it is nice because we all love him and want to play for him and want to win for him.”
Rodgers added that the circumstances that led to the Steelers making the playoffs no longer matter. Pittsburgh needed a huge choke job from Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop to get in. But as far as Rodgers is concerned, the Steelers have a “clean slate” and that “anyone can make a run.”
While the team does not appear inclined to fire Tomlin, there remains a real possibility that the longtime Steelers head coach steps back on his own this offseason.
H/T NFL.com
