A new era in Pittsburgh brings about new possibilities for the Steelers in 2026 and beyond. Steelers fans felt comfortable trading in regular-season consistency under Mike Tomlin for whatever may be next with a new head coach.
Mike McCarthy brings plenty of experience to the position, a stark contrast from Pittsburgh's previous three head coaches. That said, it’s not as though McCarthy carried a 19-year non-losing season streak like Tomlin had.
Steelers fans are no doubt tired of that specific stat in Tomlin’s resume, but the Steelers' last losing season was 23 years ago. One ESPN analyst believes Steelers fans should already be bracing for the next one.
Pittsburgh Steelers post-Tomlin adjustment may be rougher than fans expected
ESPN’s Dan Graziano joined a handful of other ESPN voices to make some early predictions for the 2026 season, in which he predicted the Steelers to finish with their first losing season since 2003.
“For a few years now, this roster has needed a more extensive rebuild than the team has been willing to undergo. For all the issues Steelers fans had with Mike Tomlin by the end of his tenure, there's a good chance 2026 shows that he was actually holding things together in Pittsburgh,” Graziano wrote on Wednesday.
For what it’s worth, McCarthy has had his fair share of losing seasons, five of them. He began his tenure in Dallas with a 6-10 record before leading the franchise to three-straight 12-win seasons, none of which extended further into the postseason. His first season in Green Bay wasn’t quite as rough, finishing at 8-8, though the team tumbled to a 6-10 finish two seasons later.
Many Steelers fans are ready for, if not urging the team to have a losing season, if for no other reason than to have better draft positioning to select a difference-maker. Still, it’s not as though anyone will actually enjoy a losing season in Pittsburgh, even for those who carry that stance.
Certainly, if McCarthy does have a losing season in Year 1, many Steelers fans won’t have the patience to see what he and Omar Khan do with that hypothetical top-10 draft pick. The bulk of Steelers fans want to see the team enjoy some level of postseason success sooner rather than later, so McCarthy turning in a failing grade in his first test with the franchise won’t go over well.
Nonetheless, Graziano’s prediction does come with the asterisk of not yet knowing what the team will do this offseason to give McCarthy the best possible chance of not only finishing the season with a winning record, but a shot at doing some damage in the playoffs. Until we get that sort of context, as well as a firm answer on Aaron Rodgers and the quarterback position, it’s really nothing more than a prediction based on limited evidence.
Even with that in mind, Steelers fans might want to take a moment this offseason to consider what they really want to see out of this team in 2026.
No matter how annoying Tomlin’s non-losing season stat is, Steelers fans haven’t had to legitimately worry about a losing season in such a long time; they might not remember just how awful an experience it can be. And while Graziano’s prediction lacks the necessary context from the forthcoming early stages of the 2026 offseason, it is a reality that the Steelers could face now that Tomlin is no longer leading the franchise on the field.