Mike Tomlin didn’t realize his Minecraft city would be this big of a deal

Mike Tomlin’s first year as a broadcaster seems to be going pretty well.

He’s a natural fit with the Football Night in America team through three weeks of the season, and he’s even had the chance to share some of the simple pleasures of his life outside of football with the world.

One of those simple pleasures is the video game Minecraft. Tomlin revealed that he started playing the game as a way to spend time with his kids, but eventually turned into an avid player himself, constructing his own city in the virtual world.

The discovery first came during an interview with Today anchor Craig Melvin. Tomlin said he had put more than 12 years into constructing his city, with the help of his kids to make sure it could make the jump from console to console. From there, Tomlin teased the reveal of his city via a new YouTube channel, and on Wednesday, released the first of what it appears will be a series of videos giving a tour of his Minecraft creation.

By Thursday, he was talking about Minecraft as a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Tomlin said that he’s been surprised by the interest in his town, and delighted in building the reveal with the help of his kids. He was at an event when the YouTube video went live, and when he turned his phone back on, saw that he was getting tons of messages.

“I called my two sons who really did all the work. One son’s music is in the background that plays in the video, the other one did the editing. And I call them and they’re screaming into the phone. ‘Dad, this is even bigger than we thought. You broke the internet.'”

Meyers also shared some of the gentle ribbing Tomlin had gotten from his son Mayce since the video’s release.

.@CoachTomlin talks about his @minecraft city 💎🔨 pic.twitter.com/qbqFzFZaSM

— Late Night with Seth Meyers (@LateNightSeth) October 2, 2026

You could be forgiven for thinking that Tomlin might have been milking the Minecraft thing a bit. It’s the sort of anecdote that almost feels too good to be true. It takes someone whose known profession (NFL head coach) puts them in one world of intensity and reframes them as quiet, introspective, and delightfully focused on the little things in life. If Tomlin has a media manager, this is the sort of story they’d love to get out there.

But watching Tomlin’s video tour, produced with the help of his kids, it quickly becomes clear that this is a real work of passion that Tomlin is invested in. Tomlin cares about the views available to people living in his city, and the number of bathrooms available. Roughly two minutes into the video, Tomlin takes you inside the first building he made. Before this, he’s already showed off an impressive skyline and the body of water he initially started building around. Inside, Tomlin gives you a tour of the lobby, the ballroom, and much more.

“I was really lighting-conscious when I started this. Lighting was a challenge 12 years ago in terms of making sure things were well lit, so you’ll see me consciously do things with glass ceilings when appropriate, really all for the purposes of lighting, unless for the architectural component of it.”

Those are not the words of someone milking a PR campaign. Those are the words of someone with sharing with cautious pride the details of something special that they’ve put a lot of thought into. Tomlin’s city and the tour he provides through it is genuinely a moving piece of art.

All of this to say, it is sure starting to feel like Tomlin might really be done with coaching. While he has far from shut the door on the idea, and at 54 there’s no reason for him to, Tomlin is clearly enjoying his time on television, he’s good at it, and he seems to quickly be opening up to showing a bit more of his human side that while present, is largely shrouded while in the intense environment of week-to-week NFL action. He already has a Super Bowl ring.

What mountains are left for him to climb in the NFL? And how do they compare to the worlds he could build elsewhere?