The Pittsburgh Steelers shocked the football world on Saturday when they made their decision at head coach... but it wasn't the one fans wanted. Team president Art Rooney II and general manager Omar Khan made the bold decision to name Mike McCarthy as the Steelers' next head coach. The long-time coaching veteran will officially step in to replace Mike Tomlin.
This bizarre move comes before the Steelers didn't even get the opportunity to speak to Rams' assistant coaches Chris Shula and Nate Scheelhaase for in-person interviews (as the Rams were still in the playoffs). Shula felt like the frontrunner for the HC job from the gate, but Pittsburgh caught us off guard.
And with this decision, the Steelers' decision-makers abandon every hiring trend that brought the team success since the NFL merger.
The Pittsburgh Steelers' decision to name Mike McCarthy as head coach breaks every hiring trend
Over the past 57 years, the Steelers have hired just three head coaches—Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Mike Tomlin. During the Super Bowl era, these three coaches combined for the most regular-season wins in the NFL while tying the Patriots for the most Super Bowl victories.
At the time these coaches were hired, they shared three things in common: they were young (34 to 37 years old), they were defensive-minded coaches (all three were defensive coordinators), and they were first-time head coaches.
Mike McCarthy doesn't check any of these boxes.
At 62 years old, McCarthy is the third-oldest active head coach in the NFL—behind only Andy Reid and John Harbaugh. Reid's team finished with a 6-11 record in 2025, and Harbaugh was relieved of his duties with the Baltimore Ravens after failing to make the playoffs.
While McCarthy has found playoff success in the past, and even a Super Bowl win, his best run came all the way back following the 2010 season (roughly 15 years ago). In his previous stint as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, McCarthy found just one playoff win in five seasons before Jerry Jones and the Cowboys elected to move on.
It's not that McCarthy is a bad coach; it's that the process was all wrong.
Despite making the playoffs, the collection of the most important metrics (point differential, DVOA, yards per game, points per game, yards allowed, points allowed, etc.) proves that the Steelers were roughly the 17th or 18th best team in the league last season. This is a team that is void of all superstar talent, with a disgraceful coaching staff and no quarterback of the future.
There was never a better time than now for the Steelers to go with a young, first-time head coach. This team is on a nine-year drought without a playoff win, and quite frankly, they need a total rebuild.
Going with a young, innovative head coach with a team that needs to tear the roster down to the studs just felt like the right move. Instead, the Pittsburgh Steelers went against every head coach hiring trend that has ever brought this franchise success to hire a hometown HC prospect who has been an NFL coach for nearly 20 years.
Is this a naive attempt to keep the Steelers competitive in 2026—without any hope at quarterback and with glaring roster holes? Or is there a master plan with all of this that we just aren't seeing?
Either way, most fans are furious about the team's decision to roll with Mike McCarthy as Mike Tomlin's predecessor. Let's hope Rooney and Khan know what they're doing.