Overview
- Sunday night’s matchup will decide the AFC North title and a postseason berth in Pittsburgh, with the loser’s season over.
- Steelers reporter Mark Kaboly predicts Art Rooney would decline Tomlin’s 2027 option if Pittsburgh loses, positioning him as a 2026 lame-duck despite a 2024 extension that runs through 2027.
- Team-focused analysis from Yahoo/Steelers Wire says the Rooney family is not expected to fire Tomlin this offseason, framing the option year as the likely mechanism for any change.
- Adam Schefter said it is in the “realm of possibility” the Steelers could part ways after a loss, which he presented as speculative rather than a stated team plan.
- EssentiallySports reports unconfirmed friction between John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson and says questions about Harbaugh’s future could resurface if Baltimore loses, noting Harbaugh is under contract through 2028.