The Mike McCarthy hire fell flat with many Steelers fans

The Steelers rarely hire a head coach. Since Richard Nixon was in the White House, the Steelers have consistently made innovative moves, spotting potential Hall of Famers before they gained widespread recognition. And while it’s possible that Mike McCarthy, who has an 11-11 record in the postseason, will deliver the franchise’s first playoff win since 2016, they’re much more interested in their first Super Bowl win since 2008.

Again, that’s what most expect. Although the first-time head coach is not yet well-known to fans, he is destined for greatness thanks to the Rooney imprimatur.

Instead, Steelers Nation got a Pittsburgh native with 18 years of NFL head-coaching experience and a shot at more Super Bowl appearances.

Some of the frustration stems from deciding to pounce on McCarthy before having personal interviews with Rams pass game coordinator Nate Schellhase or Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula. Part of that comes from the fact that while no one else is seemingly hot on McCarthy’s trail on the current coaching carousel, McCarthy has only been interviewed by two teams — the Titans and Giants.

No other team in search of a new head coach, including the Ravens, Browns, Cardinals, Raiders, Bills, Falcons, and Dolphins, has shown interest in McCarthy. If any of those teams contacted McCarthy and he declined their offer in pursuit of a better opportunity with a more stable organisation, there were no reports confirming that.

Back to January 2025. In January 2025, after McCarthy left the Cowboys, the Jets, Patriots, Jaguars, Raiders, Bears, and Saints were all conducting coaching searches. Only Beers interviewed him.

The NFL, with only 32 teams, is a fairly small, tight-knit operation. Word gets around about the best coaching candidates. The league-wide buzz around McCarthy doesn’t match his objective accomplishments. This raises concerns for those who are hesitant to commit.

Many have drawn comparisons between McCarthy’s track record and John Harbaugh’s. Both went to a Super Bowl. Both won a Super Bowl. Including the postseason, McCarthy has coached 310 games, winning 60 per cent of them. Harbaugh coached 317 games. He won 60.9 per cent.

However, as soon as Harbaugh became available, teams rushed to secure his services. His agent has heard from more teams than vacancies. Harbaugh has leveraged the Giants’ recent success to restructure their football operations.

For McCarthy, the vibe was much different.

After the Packers fired him during the 2018 season, there was no clamour to hire him in 2019. In the 2025 and 2026 cycles, there was only one offer. From the Steeler

Steelers fans hold their team in very high regard. They believe the Steelers should be a franchise where candidates are crowded with options Despite the similarities between McCarthy’s and Harbaugh’s resumes, Harbaugh’s arrival at the Giants brought the kind of buzz that Steelers fans expected if the franchise was going to make a dramatic departure from its 57-year history of hiring a future star whose name was not yet widely known.

Why didn’t the Steelers pursue Harbaugh as an ex-coach? When Mike Tomlin resigned, Harbaugh had not yet begun contract negotiations with the Giants. It would have been an 80-20 situation for residents of the 412 area code, with Harbaugh and McCarthy being the two options.

And while wins (especially in January) will warm fans up for the decision, short-term losses will exacerbate the bare vitriol that emerged during the Bills’ embarrassing home loss on Nov. 30.

Consider McCarthy’s first year in Dallas. A Week 9 loss to the Steelers dropped the Cowboys’ record to 2-7. If this is how 2026 starts for the Steelers, they’ll be chanting “Fire McCarthy” at Penguins games — and Styx will kindly tell the Steelers to shut up and shut up. apostate.

The silver lining in the black and gold cloud that many Steelers fans see building is McCarthy’s three straight 12-5 seasons in Dallas. The Steelers have had just two seasons of 12 or more wins since 2011, and none since 2020.

The sooner the Steelers can get performances like this from McCarthy, the sooner their fans will get over their realisation that they settled for a coach who, despite his Harbaugh-esque success, has nowhere else to go.