The Pittsburgh Steelers just witnessed a masterclass from the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX. Head coach Mike Macdonald and a talented Seahawks roster ran circles around the New England Patriots as they put the AFC representative to shame in the 29-13 beatdown. Now the Pittsburgh Steelers should be taking notes.
The Steelers finished the 2025 season with a 10-7 record before an abrupt 30-6 playoff loss against the Houston Texans in the Wild Card round. While fans have a glimmer of hope with Mike Tomlin gone, Mike McCarthy wasn't anyone's top choice as head coach in his place.
Sadly, what McCarthy and his new staff bring to the table doesn't come close to mirroring Seattle's young, aggressive, and innovative coaching staff. Still, there are a few valuable things the Steelers could learn from the Seahawks to help them become Super Bowl contenders again.
The Pittsburgh Steelers must learn three key lessons from the Super Bowl Seattle Seahawks
1. Super Bowl success can come with a reclamation quarterback
For most Steelers fans, witnessing Sam Darnold win the Super Bowl was actually a sigh of relief. Pittsburgh last drafted a 'franchise quarterback over 20 years ago, and they've only had two true franchise QBs in the history of their career, dating back to 1933—Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger.
Thankfully, the Seahawks showed us that NFL teams can still win without an elite signal-caller under center. However, it's a matter of finding the right guy.
Coach Tomlin hitched his wagon to Aaron Rodgers last offseason, and though Rodgers was competent, Sam Darnold would have been the better choice. There are reclamation projects hitting free agency every year, but finding the right retread QB for the team and scheme is huge.
If the Steelers continue to pick late in the first round, and the top QB prospects underwhelm, they might have better success finding their version of Sam Darnold to lead McCarthy's offense. It worked for Seattle.
2. Steelers need aggressive play-calling (on both sides of the ball)
One thing the Pittsburgh Steelers have greatly lacked in recent years is aggressiveness and ingenuity from their coaching staff. This has been the case on both sides of the football, and it's a big reason why the team hasn't found any playoff success in nine years running.
Offensively, the Steelers' play-calling has been hamstrung by a risk-averse Mike Tomlin, too afraid to put the ball in harm's way at the risk of putting more points on the board. The last three offensive play-callers—Randy Fichtner, Matt Canada, and Arthur Smith—have taken all the wind out of the sails on offense, and McCarthy must bring that aggressive nature back.
This was the opposite case with the Seahawks in 2025 and even in their Super Bowl victory.
Though Seattle leaned on the rushing attack heavily, offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak dialed up pass plays down the field, allowed Sam Darnold to attempt tight-window throws, and kept a talented Patriots defense on its heels.
Defensively, the Steelers have been more aggressive, but there's room to improve. It's about running exotic blitzes and catching the offense off guard at the right time (much like Mike Macdonald did against the Patriots in Super Bowl LX).
Adding aggressive play-calling to both sides of the football could finally help the Steelers snap their winless playoff drought and get back on track toward Super Bowl success.
3. Pittsburgh's path to Super Bowl success starts with the NFL Draft
Realistically, the Steelers are always going to be at a disadvantage when it comes to their coaching staff and quarterback (at least for the foreseeable future). While McCarthy comes with a strong resume, it's not like Mike Macdonald or Sean McVay is leading the team. Likewise, we can't expect Pittsburgh to stumble upon a Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes as their next franchise QB.
Their likeliest path to Super Bowl success again will come from drafting and developing a strong roster.
While we can chalk up a good portion of Seattle's Super Bowl success to the brilliant coaching staff, their talented roster helped them trounce teams all season and ultimately earn a Lombardi trophy.
Since 2022, Seahawks general manager John Schneider made fantastic selections in the NFL Draft and bolstered the talent on the roster with players like Charles Cross, Kenneth Walker, Devon Witherspoon, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Derick Hall, Byron Murphy, Grey Zabel, and Nick Emmanwori. These young high draft picks in recent years played a pivotal role in the team's success.
If the Pittsburgh Steelers have a stretch of three or four strong draft classes hitting on their top selections, their roster alone might be strong enough to make a deep playoff run while building the foundation of a potential Super Bowl team.