Most Pittsburgh Steelers fans have shared a common message after learning that offensive coordinator Arthur Smith would be leaving the team this offseason: goodbye and good riddance.
Smith, who was hired in 2024 to be the offensive coordinator to turn this sinking ship around, was underwhelming, to say the least. In two seasons as the Steelers' OC, Smith's offense earned an average rank of 24th in yards per game and 16th in points per game.
During this two-year stint, Smith's offense ranked 18th in the NFL in DVOA and 19th in EPA per play. Simply put, the offense was a below-average unit with Smith calling the plays.
Now things are finally looking up.
Shortly after finding out that the Steelers made Mike McCarthy their new head coach on January 24, we learned that Smith was finalizing a deal to become the next offensive coordinator of the Ohio State Buckeyes, leaving the NFL for the college football scene.
Smith went from head coach of the Atlanta Falcons to offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers to OC of the Ohio State Buckeyes, all in a three-year span. As the Steelers close this sad chapter in the team's history on offense, they hope to finally break the long-standing OC curse.
The Pittsburgh Steelers could finally break the dreaded OC curse in 2026, thanks to Mike McCarthy
Mike Tomlin's 'winning' philosophy for the Pittsburgh Steelers was simple: run the football, take the football away, and don't turn the ball over. This flawed line of thinking brought only three playoff wins over the past 14 years, but it was good enough to keep his team competitive in the regular season.
With this, Tomlin hired offensive coordinators who could fall in line—OCs who would intentionally help their quarterbacks keep the ball out of harm's way.
The last eight years of Steelers' offensive coordinators included a three-year run of Randy Fichtner, a nearly three-year stint of Matt Canada (before being fired late in the 2023 season), and a two-year run of Arthur Smith. This was about as boring an offensive stretch as Steelers fans could take.
Thankfully, there's hope... and this dreaded OC curse could snap in 2026, even if Mike McCarthy doesn't find an elite offensive coordinator.
McCarthy made it clear that he's the coach who will be calling the offensive plays for the Steelers. McCarthy relinquished his play-calling duties for just one season in 2018—a choice he said he'll never make again.
This means that, regardless of who earns the OC job in Pittsburgh, McCarthy will be the man responsible (and we should see a nearly instant improvement).
During his five-year tenure as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, McCarthy's offense ranked 11th in EPA per play and 10th in success rate, finishing with top-five total offenses and scoring offenses in 2021 and 2023.
While Steelers fans may not be thrilled with the Mike McCarthy hire as the head coach to replace Mike Tomlin, he brings an offensive-minded presence to the team that Pittsburgh hasn't had since Todd Haley.
With Fichtner, Canada, and Smith as the team's offensive play-callers over the past eight seasons, it's a low bar to clear, but McCarthy will help break this ugly pattern—regardless of who he hires as his new offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers.