STARK RAVING
Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II said he was willing to run it back another year with Mike Tomlin, and so he shall.
Mike McCarthy is Tomlin. Tomlin is McCarthy. Finkle is Einhorn. Einhorn is Finkle.
I can see it now: The Steelers go 9-8 next season with 43-year-old Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the wild-card round 34-13, and then have Rooney tell the world his team was “in contention, and that’s what you want.” The precious non-losing streak will reach 23 years.
What is this man doing?
He couldn’t at least wait to interview the two enticing Los Angeles Rams candidates in person? Nobody else wanted McCarthy. What was the rush?
McCarthy’s resume looks much like Tomlin’s: A+ stuff early, plenty of C+ stuff mixed with some good regular seasons thereafter and finally lots of playoff failure in the later years.
Tomlin and McCarthy each won a Super Bowl early in their coaching tenures. Each failed to maximize Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Each eventually became allergic to winning playoff games.
Tomlin famously lost his last seven playoff games (by an average of more than two touchdowns), tying an NFL record. McCarthy, 62, has won precisely one playoff game in his past seven seasons.
McCarthy’s most recent postseason appearance was three years ago when his team sustained a historically horrific home loss in the wild-card round that basically marked the end of his tenure. Sound familiar?
Tomlin’s last game was a 30-6 loss to Houston, the worst home playoff loss in Steelers history.
McCarthy’s most recent postseason game, before he was fired the following season in Dallas, was a 48-32 loss to the Green Bay Packers, the most points the Cowboys had ever allowed in the playoffs.
I suppose the only way this would make sense is if the Steelers hire a young, offensive coordinator apprentice such as Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase to work under McCarthy with the understanding he would take the reins someday.
But is that actually workable? Someday is a long time. What if Scheelhaase rose to stardom early and was enticed to leave? And what if he gets a head coaching offer in this cycle?
This seems to be a case of Art and maybe general manager Omar Khan wanting to put their unique stamp on Steelers history. They are bucking tradition, choosing not to go with the untested young defensive coordinator-type — and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
The choice just seems curious. And the total aversion to any hint of a reset just feels stubborn and perhaps ruinous. A 6-10 season begat Ben Roethlisberger, the man most responsible for the 22-year non-losing streak. A 1-13 season begat Terry Bradshaw, who won two Super Bowl MVPs.
It’s great that McCarthy is from Greenfield. It’s also inarguable that he has put together some very good offenses and gotten the best out of talented quarterbacks in his time, although the idea that he is some kind of quarterback whisperer might be overstated.
Dak Prescott was already good when McCarthy got to Dallas. He was coming off a 30-touchdown season. Plus, as the story goes, McCarthy — then working as the San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator — favored drafting Alex Smith over hometown kid Rodgers in 2005. That’s not exactly a resume topper.
Presumably, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted, this could spark a Rodgers-McCarthy reunion.
Steelers did not hire Mike McCarthy to lure back Aaron Rodgers; but it is not expected to hurt Pittsburgh’s chances as the future Hall-Of-Fame QB decides whether or not he wants to play next season. pic.twitter.com/Lip7OuQr2Q
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 24, 2026
Waiting on Aaron Rodgers again? The Steelers are just running in place. They have basically rehired Mike Tomlin.
Thanks, Art.
