If you're disappointed the Pittsburgh Steelers didn't hire a promising up-and-coming coach like Rams' defensive coordinator Chris Shula or passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase, you're not alone. The fanbase had no trouble letting their frustration out when they learned that Mike McCarthy was named as Mike Tomlin's replacement.
But we just found out that Shula and Scheelhaase might not have been in contention for the job anyway.
On Monday, NFL insider Adam Schefter joined The Pat McAfee Show, where he dropped a bombshell on Steelers fans with the finalists for Pittsburgh's head coaching job.
"The other two finalists [for the Pittsburgh Steelers head coaching job] were Anthony Weaver and Brian Flores. All three, including [Mike] McCarthy, were brought into Pittsburgh for interviews.
And I think if we go back to Art Rooney's press conference, when Mike Tomlin had stepped down, and he talked about the fact that he didn't want to rebuild and they've got a veteran team... They're not ready to shut it down and rebuild."
Schefter was adamant that the most important factor in the Steelers' decision to hire a head coach was that Art Rooney II had no interest in rebuilding. This was discouraging when fans heard it the first time in Rooney's press conference, and it stings just as bad now.
However, Schefter's nugget on the other two coaches under consideration for the head coaching job makes the whole hiring process look even worse.
The Pittsburgh Steelers were doomed from the start with Art Rooney II involved in the head coach hiring process
If every Pittsburgh Steelers fan lined up their list of the top-three candidates they wanted the team to pursue to replace Mike Tomlin as head coach, I'm not sure if anyone would have had Mike McCarthy, Anthony Weaver, and Brian Flores.
Of the group, Flores offered the most intrigue. Though he would be a re-tread head coach due to his brief run as head coach of the Miami Dolphins, he's at least young and helped the Minnesota Vikings to an excellent defense in recent years.
However, these aren't the candidates most fans would have picked as finalists.
McCarthy has coached in the NFL for over 30 years, and at 62 years old, he's older than Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Mike Tomlin were when they retired from coaching. In fact, before he even coaches his first game in 2026, McCarthy is older than any head coach to ever coach for the Steelers in their franchise history, which dates back to 1933.
Weaver, meanwhile, felt like an underwhelming candidate. The defensive-minded coach produced two bottom-10 defenses in three seasons as an NFL defensive coordinator of the Texans and Dolphins. The results simply weren't there, though the Steelers gushed over his leadership qualities.
If Schefter's comments are true, it means that Chris Shula and Nate Scheelhaase weren't serious contenders for the Steelers' head coaching job. This would explain why Art Rooney II and general manager Omar Khan didn't even wait until they were allowed to interview the Rams' assistant coaches in person before deciding to go with McCarthy.
This is on top of fans already feeling frustrated that the team had no reported interest in brilliant, young offensive minds like Seahawks' offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak or Jaguars' offensive coordinator Grant Udinski.
Quite frankly, the Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach hiring process felt doomed from the start.