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After 19 seasons in Pittsburgh, Mike Tomlin decided to step down as head coach of the Steelers on Tuesday. That means the NFL's two longest-tenured head coaches going into the 2025 season -- Tomlin and John Harbaugh -- are now both out of a job. 

The NFL is a cutthroat league where no one lasts forever and the past seven days have been proof of that. Harbaugh was fired by the Ravens less than 48 hours after losing to Tomlin's Steelers in a wild Week 18 game that kept Baltimore out of the playoffs. As for Tomlin, he decided to step down just one day after losing his seventh playoff game in a row, which ties him with former Bengals coach Marvin Lewis for the most consecutive postseason losses in NFL history. 

With Tomlin out of a job, that means there is only one head coach in the NFL who's been with the same team for at least 10 seasons: Andy Reid. 

Let's take a look at the five longest-tenured coaches in the NFL along with the year they were hired: 

1. Chiefs coach Andy Reid (2013)
T-2. Bills coach Sean McDermott (2017)
T-2. Rams coach Sean McVay (2017)
T-2. 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan (2017)
T-5. Bengals coach Zac Taylor (2019)
T-5. Packers coach Matt LaFleur (2019)

This list really shows you how fleeting a career can be for an NFL head coach. There's only one coach on this list who hasn't really hasn't been mentioned as a possible hot seat candidate over the past 12 months and that's McVay. 

Reid led the the Chiefs to the Super Bowl in five out of six seasons from 2019 through 2024, but even some fans were calling for his head after Kansas City finished 6-11 this year. 

Despite the fan unhappiness, Reid's job seems pretty safe. 

In Buffalo, McDermott has the Bills in the divisional round of the playoffs for the sixth straight year, which is the longest active streak in the NFL, but he still hasn't been able to reach the promised land with Josh Allen, which has rankled some fans. According to ESPN, there's been some speculation around the league that McDermott could actually be on the hot seat if the Bills don't "make a playoff run" this year. If the Bills lose on Saturday in Denver, things could certainly get interesting. 

Eight Steelers coaching candidates to watch after Mike Tomlin steps down
Bryan DeArdo
Eight Steelers coaching candidates to watch after Mike Tomlin steps down

For the 49ers, there was some talk that Shanahan was on the hot seat after a 2024 season where his team finished just 6-11, but John Lynch shot down that chatter during an interview near the end of the 2024 season. 

"I've found the whole discussion on Kyle rather comical," Lynch said, via NFL.com. "We have won four of the last five division championships. We've been to two Super Bowls. The standard here is to win championships, and we've fallen short of that, I understand. But we have an excellent head coach, and the fact that people are talking about stuff like that, I do find it comical."

The 49ers stuck with Shanahan for 2025 and the decision paid off, because he's pulled off one of the most impressive coaching jobs of the season. Despite losing multiple key players to injury, Shanahan has led the 49ers to the divisional round of the playoffs. 

And then there's Zac Taylor, who is officially the last man standing in the AFC North with the Browns, Ravens and Steelers all getting rid of their coaches. Although the Bengals have missed the playoffs for three straight years, Taylor got a vote of confidence from owner Mike Brown in early January. 

"Our focus is on building a team that can consistently compete at the highest level, with the goal of winning championships," Brown said in a statement on Jan. 5. "After thoughtful consideration, I am confident that Duke Tobin and Zac Taylor are the right leaders to guide us forward. They have proven they can build and lead teams that compete for championships."

Taylor might be safe now, but the pressure will certainly be on him in 2026. If he can't make the playoffs with Joe Burrow in a division that will have three new head coaches, then it will likely be time for the Bengals to cut ties with him. 

In Green Bay, Matt LaFleur has a contract that expires at the end of the 2026 season. The Packers are expected to try to work out a contract extension with LaFleur, but until that gets done, it's impossible to say for sure what might happen there. LaFleur has been extremely successful in the regular season, but that hasn't translated to playoff success. He has just a 3-6 career record in the playoffs, including Saturday's shocking 31-27 loss to the Bears where the Packers blew an 18-point lead. 

The bottom line here is that if you don't produce in the NFL, you won't last long, and even if you do produce, you won't last long it you're not producing playoff wins or Lombardi Trophies.