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By Rowan Fisher-Shotton
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The Pittsburgh Steelers finished the 2025 regular season 10–7, won the AFC North, and secured a postseason berth after knocking off division rival Baltimore Ravens in Week 18.
Pittsburgh’s season came to an abrupt end in the Wild Card Round, however, as the Steelers suffered a 30–6 home loss to the Houston Texans.
The offense struggled to sustain drives throughout the game, while Houston’s defense controlled the line of scrimmage and dictated the tempo from start to finish.
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One day after the loss, head coach Mike Tomlin announced he was stepping down, closing the book on a 19-season run in Pittsburgh.
Tomlin leaves the franchise with a 309–193 career record across his NFL head-coaching tenure, a .628 winning percentage—the highest in team history, along with a Super Bowl XLIII title and 13 playoff appearances.
In the immediate aftermath of Tomlin’s decision, the Steelers submitted formal requests to interview two Los Angeles Rams coordinators for their head-coaching vacancy: pass-game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase and defensive coordinator Chris Shula.
Both interview requests were made while the Rams remain active in the postseason, signaling Pittsburgh’s early and aggressive approach to the coaching search.
Scheelhaase, 35, is in his second season on the Rams’ coaching staff and currently serves as the team’s pass-game coordinator after joining the organization in 2024 as an offensive assistant and passing-game specialist.
A former college quarterback at Illinois, Scheelhaase transitioned into coaching with stops at Illinois and Iowa State, where he rose to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach before making the jump to the NFL.
Scheelhaase has been credited with helping shape the Rams’ passing concepts and was part of an offense that led the league in both passing yards (268.1 per game) and scoring (30.5 points per game) during the 2025 season.
He has also been interviewed or targeted by multiple franchises in recent weeks.
Shula, 39, the grandson of NFL legend Don Shula, has been with the Rams since 2017 and was promoted to defensive coordinator prior to the 2024 season after spending several years as a linebackers coach, pass-game coordinator, and defensive backs coach.
In his first season as defensive coordinator, Shula’s unit produced strong situational results, particularly in the red zone and goal-to-go situations, and he has emerged leaguewide as one of the NFL’s top up-and-coming defensive play-callers.
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The Rams advanced from the Wild Card round with a 34–31 win over the Carolina Panthers and are scheduled to travel to face the Chicago Bears in the NFC Divisional Round.
Both Los Angeles’ offense and defense have been cited as key factors behind the growing head-coach interest in the Rams’ staff amid the team’s ongoing playoff run.
The Rams enter the matchup as 3.5-point road favorites, with the over/under set at 48.5 points.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
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