In his first interview since he resigned as coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in February, Mike Tomlin told NBC's Maria Taylor that he walked away, in part, because of the recent lack of playoff success and a belief that some of his veterans were "worthy of the excitement and the optimism associated with new leadership."
"It's probably not an overnight decision," Tomlin told Taylor during an interview that aired Sunday night. "But it's probably not something that I could articulate or share with people. There's a loneliness with leadership. I just thought it was a good time for me, personally. And by that, I mean just where I am in life. And I thought it was a good time for the organization, to be quite honest with you. We didn't have a lot of success in the playoffs in recent years."
The Steelers haven't won a playoff game since 2016.
In the interview, NBC officially announced that Tomlin was joining the network as an analyst on its Sunday night pregame show, "Football Night in America." Typically a studio show, "Football Night in America" will be on location at stadiums each week throughout the coming season, which means if the Steelers are in the Sunday night prime-time slot, Tomlin almost certainly would be on hand.