As the Pittsburgh Steelers prep for their pivotal Wild Card playoff matchup against the Houston Texans, seven frantic NFL teams are beginning their hunt for new head coaches. The 2025 coaching carousel isn't as strong as it was last offseason... and it shows.
On Thursday, the Tennessee Titans submitted three interview requests for their vacant head coaching position, per ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter. These went out to Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, 49ers' DC Robert Salah, and Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
For reasons unknown to most Steelers fans, Smith's name continues to pop up as a potential head coach candidate. Now the underwhelming OC might be one step away from landing a head coaching job with a low-level AFC team.
Arthur Smith could spurn the Pittsburgh Steelers for a head coaching job in 2026
The interest in Smith is hard to make sense of. As head coach of the Atlanta Falcons from 2021 to 2023, the offensive-minded head coach led his team to a 7-10 record in three straight seasons before being kicked to the curb and signing as the Steelers' offensive coordinator during the 2024 offseason.
Ironically, despite being the Falcons' play-caller, Smith never had an offense that ranked in the top-half of the league, and his offense had an average rank of 23rd in his three seasons as head coach, per Pro Football Reference.
With the Steelers, Smith's offense somehow ranked worse. In his two years as the OC and offensive play-caller in Pittsburgh, Smith never finished with a total offense ranked higher than 23rd, and his average offensive rank in his first two seasons is 24th in the NFL.
Smith's last real success came all the way back in 2019 and 2020 with the Tennessee Titans. With a young Derrick Henry, a top receiver in A.J. Brown, and a good offensive line, Smith led one of the league's top offenses, thanks to a remarkable rushing attack.
That was nearly six years ago... and things have only spiraled since then.
The Titans are familiar with Smith, and perhaps he can redeem himself as an NFL head coach. But after the lack of success he's brought to Pittsburgh's offense over the last two seasons, Steelers fans can only smirk as a bottom-dwelling AFC team like the Tennessee Titans might be desperate enough to poach Smith from Pittsburgh's coaching staff.
The Pittsburgh Steelers could do worse at offensive coordinator than Arthur Smith (we lived through this with Matt Canada). But nobody is going to shed a tear if Smith spurns this team for a head coaching position. In fact, we might even chuckle.