The Pittsburgh Steelers are considering former NFL head coach Mike McCarthy to replace the recently departed Mike Tomlin.
McCarthy, a Pittsburgh native, has extensive experience coaching high-expectation teams like the Packers and Cowboys.
As an accomplished offensive coach, McCarthy could address the Steelers’ long-standing struggles on that side of the ball.
Hiring McCarthy might also be a strategic move to convince quarterback Aaron Rodgers to return for another season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been one of the NFL’s Tiffany franchises for more than five decades – still are, too, even if they’re maybe light a few karats in recent years.
But an organization that was once wed to playoff success – and often to the Lombardi Trophy, capturing it a record-tying six times – has been relegated to the Super Bowl friend zone for most of the past 15 seasons, reaching the AFC championship game just once during that period.
That isn’t intended as a shot at Mike Tomlin, who’s almost certainly a future Hall of Famer and somehow managed to never have a losing year in 19 seasons in Western PA. And he kept this team relevant despite quite a few factors stacked against him: Baltimore Ravens, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, a culture that loathes a rebuild, a declining Ben Roethlisberger, an unspooling Antonio Brown and a misguided Le’Veon Bell … for starters.
And the league also evolved quite a bit during the Tomlin era, skewing toward a model that favored offense – and away from the teeth-rattling defense Pittsburgh historically played – incorporating more college concepts, plus more creative roster engineering, the Steelers historically loathe to making significant draft trades or routine free agency splashes.
With that as a backdrop to Tomlin’s departure, it’s really a logical time for the Steelers to re-evaluate their long-held philosophies and priorities – which makes their courting of former NFL head coach Mike McCarthy so compelling. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that McCarthy is scheduled to interview with Pittsburgh on Wednesday and had previously withdrawn from consideration for the Tennessee Titans’ job (before it went to Robert Saleh) and was focused on the Steelers at the expense of any interest in him elsewhere.
And while it’s premature to suggest McCarthy will get the job, or is even a frontrunner for it, there are at least four reasons he might be the ideal pivot for the Steelers:
Mike McCarthy grew up in Pittsburgh
A Yinzer through and through, McCarthy was raised in and around the Steel City and was an assistant coach for Pitt at the beginning of his career before he made the leap to the NFL in 1993. He even worked at toll booths on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to make extra money while working his way through graduate school.
“I don’t want to disrespect the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I did my job, and I studied while I was there when there were no cars coming through the booth,” said McCarthy during the lead-up to Super Bowl 45, where his Green Bay Packers ultimately defeated Tomlin’s Steelers in their most recent Super Sunday appearance in 2011.
“It was a good experience. I always felt that was the normal way – you have summer jobs, you do those types of things, and I’m glad I took the path that I did as far as a young man back then being exposed to those types of things.’
Beyond that, McCarthy fully understands the Steelers’ legacy, cachet and the weight of being a steward for such an operation … and that he’ll have to periodically talk to Pat McAfee and Co. It also wouldn’t hurt from a PR perspective that he knows his way around town and where the good eateries are aside from Primanti Bros.
Mike McCarthy understands high-level NFL expectations
His last three NFL employers have been the San Francisco 49ers (offensive coordinator), Packers (head coach) and Dallas Cowboys (HC) – which is to say he knows something about working for a blue-blood club whose fans are perpetually in Super-Bowl-or-bust-mode. He delivered the Pack their fourth Lombardi Trophy, got them close several other times and was as successful a coach as the Cowboys have had in the past 30 years, stringing together three consecutive 12-win seasons from 2021-23.
McCarthy’s 185 victories rank 15th in NFL history. His 11 playoff wins trail only Andy Reid (28) and John Harbaugh (13) among active coaches.
This dream job wouldn’t be too much for him. It might also be nice not having to constantly defer to a hyper-involved owner the way he did in Dallas.
Mike McCarthy is a great offensive coach – which the Steelers need
Did his system get a little stale by the end in Green Bay? Maybe. Did McCarthy do extensive self-scouting and dive into other offensive approaches following his midseason firing in Titletown in 2018? You bet he did. And the results spoke for themselves. The Cowboys scored the most points in the league in 2021 and 2023 and ranked fourth in 2022.The Steelers haven’t had a top-five scoring offense in a decade, ranking fourth in 2015 – which was the only time they’ve ranked that high … in the last 30 seasons.
The Rooney family has obviously had great success identifying and hiring little-known, thirtysomething defensive coaches – Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, Tomlin – integrating them into the organizational DNA and growing them into legends. And maybe it’s tempting to swing for a fourth home run with the likes of Jesse Minter, Chris Shula, Ejiro Evero or Anthony Weaver.
Yet this might be the perfect time to try something new – yes, McCarthy is 62 – when few in Pittsburgh have been satisfied with the recent results, namely seven consecutive (and decisive) postseason defeats, often besmirched by repugnant offensive performances.
Mike McCarthy might get Aaron Rodgers back
It’s as compelling a reason as any to pursue McCarthy, who basically isn’t a 15-year hire by definition. Rodgers, whose one-year contract with the team expires in March, isn’t a long-term hire, either, and maybe he’s had enough – now 42 years old and, according to The Athletic, in tears at the team meeting after Tomlin announced that he was stepping down not 24 hours after Pittsburgh was blown out by the Houston Texans in the wild-card round.
But here’s the rub. Team owner Art Rooney II has said he doesn’t want to rebuild or be non-competitive – and it’s worth noting those were the marching orders Tomlin took so much heat for executing while expending a blast furnace’s worth of sweat equity getting to nine or 10 wins annually ahead of an early playoff exit. Also, this isn’t a good year to find a QB1 in the draft or free agency – though it might be an excellent one to acquire a developmental prospect, if not merely giving 2025 sixth-rounder Will Howard more exposure to the four-time league MVP.
Either way, trying to woo Rodgers back could be the best play given how quickly and enthusiastically the locker room embraced him. And, ICYMI, the 2025 season was almost unequivocally his best since he won his last MVP award in 2021. And though there were reports the quarterback and McCarthy had something of a rift when the latter was fired in Green Bay, Rodgers has publicly and stridently debunked the notion.
But if Rodgers wants to play – aside from potentially pitching himself anew to the Minnesota Vikings – there doesn’t seem to be a more optimal set of circumstances than reuniting with McCarthy and the Steelers for however much longer he’s willing and able.