Mike McCarthy is the Pittsburgh Steelers’ newest head coach, following directly behind a line of Mike Tomlin, Bill Cowher, and Chuck Noll in the Steel City.
Those are big shoes to fill, and while McCarthy impressed in his introductory press conference, his hiring continues to be met with vitriol from the team’s fanbase.
Now that the dust has settled from the initial shocking announcement, we’ll take a deeper look at what McCarthy might mean for the Steelers in 2026 and beyond in an emergency Read &
React:
What was your first reaction to the Steelers hiring Mike McCarthy? Has it changed at all since?
RB: I was not a fan of this hire. McCarthy was the Steelers head coach interview I was the least enthused about, and it was disappointing to see Pittsburgh not only choose him, but make the decision so quickly.
Yes, McCarthy did have some outside interest from other teams, but he was hardly one of the hottest candidates in this year’s coaching cycle. The Steelers completed just three in-person interviews and didn’t bother to wait a few days to hold one with the Rams’ Chris Shula or Nate Scheelhaase.
I’ll preface the rest of this article by noting I’m not an insider who is deeply familiar with McCarthy or the ins and outs of the Steelers’ decision-making process. That said, the choice to quickly hire him looks like the team falling head over heels for his pitch instead of taking the time to hear from candidates who might not wax as poetic about the city or a Super Bowl win 15 years ago.
That said, it’s easy to see why the team likes McCarthy. In his introductory press conference Tuesday, he won a number of fans back with his clear passion for the franchise. Also, as complaints about complacency continue to rain down around the Steelers, I think the motivated and genuine image McCarthy presented shattered some of the caricatures floating around after his hiring.
I’ve warmed up ever so slightly to the hire myself, mainly because I feel like some of the outrage online has gotten a little extreme given McCarthy hasn’t as much as led a practice yet.
But I still strongly believe this wasn’t the right hire for Pittsburgh. Obviously, the team didn’t make the decision to part ways with Mike Tomlin, but the reasons to replace Tomlin would always be to upgrade some of his shortcomings: notably, bringing in more modern ideas and returning to winning in the postseason.
McCarthy doesn’t bring much of either. He was 1-3 in the postseason during his time in Dallas, and at 62 years old he’s on the back end of his career, let go from head coaching jobs in his last two coaching stops at both Dallas and Green Bay.
The Steelers have a rich history of hiring up-and-coming coordinators who can settle into their own in Pittsburgh and build lasting success. McCarthy’s coaching peak came in 2011. His hiring was the coaching equivalent of the Steelers’ recent roster-building mishaps: prioritizing the safety of a lengthy resume rather than a real attempt to get on the cutting edge. It appeared to be a hire to keep squeezing out winning seasons, not to critically address the structural flaws that have been holding the team back from contention.
I won’t ignore that McCarthy coached top-five offenses in Dallas from 2021-23. That’s recent enough to where you can’t say his ideas can’t succeed in the modern NFL. But joining Green Bay in 2006 and Dallas in 2020, McCarthy inherited two franchise quarterbacks in Aaron Rodgers and Dak Prescott. It’s going to be a much harder ask to achieve those results in Pittsburgh, where the quarterback room is uninspiring and unlikely to greatly improve in 2026.
In short, Tomlin’s departure gave the Steelers a rare opportunity to make some much-needed changes to the franchise. Instead, the team picked the candidate most likely to maintain the status quo.
Here’s hoping the coordinator hires are inspiring, at least. But if the team runs it back with Aaron Rodgers in 2026, it will be hard to defend any facets of the front office’s recent decision making.
RP: Unsurprisingly, Ryland and I are in lock step here. While I’ll never be able to quit my beloved Steelers, this move feels like something the type of move we’re more accustomed to seeing from the much derided owners of the Jets, Raiders, or Cowboys. Oh, wait, the Cowboys and Jerry Jones DID make this move not that long ago. Does anyone remember how that turned out?
I said last offseason that the Steelers under Art Rooney II have felt like a rudderless team that is lacking true direction. A franchise content to throw anything and everything at the wall to see what sticks, as long as it doesn’t force Rooney to think too hard or leave his comfort zone. The Steelers are an organization that embraces only superficial change, and not the kind of changes that show any true foresight.
I’m not the biggest fan of McCarthy, but I’ll admit he’s had a successful NFL career. What bothers me about this hire is he is not the type of coach who matches with what is realistically the Steelers timeline. As Ryland alluded to, in his previous two stops, McCarthy already had the answer at quarterback in place. Frankly, I view him as a bit of a frontrunner coach. He’s capable of taking a good team to the playoffs, though his success there post-2011 has been as abysmal.
With no viable quarterback and no real playmakers on offense, McCarthy will need to prove he can build a team from scratch. He also inherits a defense whose two biggest stars are on the wrong side of 30, and admitted in his press conference that he’s only had a top-five defense once in his career, which was supposed to encourage us that he knows defense is important, but left me with doubts about his ability to turn around a Steelers defense that allowed the seventh-most yards per game, finished 16th in points allowed and EPA per play.
Much has also been made about McCarthy’s ability to develop quarterbacks, but I’m not certain we can give him full credit, if any at all, for developing Rodgers or Prescott. And regardless, a player of their caliber is not currently on the Steelers, nor is it realistically attainable this offseason without some significant draft luck in what is considered one of the shallowest quarterback classes in years.
Alex Smith and Aaron Brooks are the other quarterbacks I think we should consider when talking about McCarthy as a quarterback developer — not Kansas City-era Joe Montana, nor Rich Gannon, who blossomed more with the Raiders than he ever did with McCarthy and the Chiefs. Smith, for his part, was a disaster under McCarthy and was a player who looked like an all-time bust before rejuvenating his career. Brooks, a former fourth-round pick, is probably the closest to what the Steelers currently have.
In four full seasons as a starter under McCarthy, Brooks threw 98 touchdowns against 61 interceptions, completed just 56.4% of his passes, and took 161 sacks. The Saints made the playoffs in Brooks first season with the team, but he only started the final five games of that season, and they were eliminated in the divisional round. They missed the playoffs all four seasons where Brooks started.
Does this change your perspective on Mike Tomlin?
RB: Do you miss Mike Tomlin yet?
It’s hard to resist the draw of dropping an “I told you so” online, but the ones following McCarthy’s hiring by some ardent Tomlin defenders have felt intellectually dishonest, to say the least.
Yes, I thought it was good that Tomlin and the Steelers parted ways. No, I did not like the McCarthy hire. Those are obviously two separate events. I certainly was never in the “anyone but Tomlin” crowd, and I’d argue that it never really existed in the first place.
Most Tomlin critics acknowledged the Steelers could certainly do worse at the head coaching position. But that risk couldn’t be a reason to be scared of making a change when, again, the team had run into the same playoff wall for nearly a decade.
Ultimately, I’m not sure which Mike I’d rather have in Pittsburgh. Some aspects of Tomlin’s tenure look more attractive now, but McCarthy’s still fresh time as the head coach brings the possibility of positive staff changes and some improved offensive ideas. I guess we’ll find out.
RP: Not really. Two things can be true at once: it was time for Mike Tomlin to step away, and I think the Steelers made a questionable and rushed replacement hire. At his introductory presser, McCarthy made it clear that they’d be adjusting who is on the coaching staff — not necessarily the number of staff — but, for the most part, he was looking to maintain much of how the Steelers already operate.
That is increasingly becoming the problem with the Steelers’ stale efforts during this playoff victory drought. They refuse to change up the approach that has led them to several playoff appearances over the past decade, but left them outgunned and outwitted once they’ve gotten there. Football has always been a game of inches, but as the game has evolved over the past 15 years, the Steelers have been a team that has turned its nose up at pursuing the little details that can give a team an edge, whether that’s hiring a bigger staff, embracing analytics, or bringing in anybody with new ideas that might threathen the way things have always been done.
Yes, it’s new having an offensive-minded coach, and it’s new to hire a 62-year-old coach who is on his third head coaching gig. But those aren’t the types of changes without much precedent of success, and they’re certainly not what I would describe as a source of fresh ideas.
What do you expect from Mike McCarthy’s staff in 2026?
RB: I write about the Steelers, not the entire NFL, so I’d be lying if I said I had some confident predictions about who will be on McCarthy’s staff in Pittsburgh.
But looking over the team’s short interview list at offensive and defensive coordinator so far, past connections with McCarthy seem to be a theme. And the candidates, although there’s no trendy, McVay-tree wunderkind yet, are an intriguing bunch.
Cowboys tight ends coach Lunda Wells (worked with McCarthy in Dallas) is the lone interview candidate at offensive coordinator so far. Still in his 40s, he’s had varied NFL coaching titles beyond his current one (offensive quality control, assistant offensive line coach), and he’s also a Shrine Bowl head coach this year. He interviewed for the Washington Commanders’ coordinator position last year.
Under Wells, the Cowboys have developed two plus starters at the tight end position in Dalton Schultz and Jake Ferguson. I can’t speak to how big of a schematic impact Wells has had on the offenses he’s been a part of, but it’s a good resume for a tight ends coach.
One of two candidates in the defensive coordinator search (and the reported eventual hire) is current Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham (worked with McCarthy in Green Bay in 2018). Graham’s defensive numbers haven’t been gaudy during his time as a coordinator, but the 47-year-old is well-respected in NFL media circles for doing the best he can with uninspiring rosters.
That said, Graham’s Raiders finished 25th in points per game allowed in 2025. They were 26th in 2024.
I wouldn’t get my hopes too high about the staff the Steelers build under McCarthy, but there isn’t any disastrous news at this point. There are some interesting potential names so far, although it can be difficult to properly judge the impact of an assistant coach.
RP: Like Ryland, I won’t wager any guesses, beyond that they’ll likely be guys McCarthy has worked with before. You decide if that’s something you consider a positive or negative.
Smart football people I trust vouch for Graham, so I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. As for the offensive coordinator, McCarthy will be calling the plays, so any OC brought in will be hard to judge on their own.
How do you think the Steelers will perform in 2026 under McCarthy?
RB: I won’t be dropping any record predictions or anything similarly serious this early as there is still a lot that’s bound to change for the Steelers this offseason. Mike McCarthy’s staff isn’t assembled yet, and free agency, the draft, and training camp remain in the distance. We actually don’t know much about this team.
But McCarthy, although to a far lesser extent than Mike Tomlin, comes with a respectable floor as a head coach. He’s had four losing seasons in the past 10 he’s coached, with the worst being a 4-7-1 stint in Green Bay in 2018 before he was fired.
But recently in Dallas, he rattled off three-straight 12-5 seasons from 2021-23 before going 7-10 in 2024 (nine games were without Dak Prescott). As mentioned earlier, the streak of 12-win seasons came with No. 1-ranked offenses in 2021 and 2023, and the No. 4-ranked offense in 2022.
While a losing season could certainly be in the cards at some point, especially if the roster building – especially at quarterback – has issues, I don’t expect the Steelers to suddenly drop to the lower echelon of the NFL under McCarthy.
That said, the new hire doesn’t notably move Pittsburgh any closer to breaking its playoff win drought.
RP: I know we’ve been rather heavy-handed and dour about this hire in this column, but I think the Steelers will still be too talented to have the demise that the national media has been predicting every offseason since 2019. Sure, a lot of that will depend on who they bring in at quarterback, and I think a second season of Rodgers would be worse than what we got this year.
But if McCarthy is the floor raiser on offense that we’re being sold, and the Steelers can shore up some weak links in the defense this offseason via free agency and the draft, I see no reason why they can’t be competing for a wild card berth again. The Steelers will still have the Browns and Bengals for four games on their schedule, and the AFC North will also play the lowly NFC South and an AFC South that has the Titans and the currently quarterbackless Colts.
Join in on Steelers R&R by sharing your takes on this week’s topics. Feel free to pitch future questions in the comment section or on Twitter/X: tag @_Ryland_B or @RyanParishMedia, or email us at steelersreadnreact@gmail.com.
