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The Pittsburgh Steelers are entering a season with a new head coach, something that happens roughly once a generation for this storied franchise.
What’s become far too common for them is that they are entering the season with an aged quarterback who they are desperate to cull one more decent season from.
It once was Ben Roethlisberger; then it was Russell Wilson and now it’s Aaron Rodgers, again.
Mike McCarthy becomes just the fourth head coach for Pittsburgh since the 1960s and before the start of their first dynasty, joining Chuck Knoll, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin.
These are strange and heady times in many ways, with the Rooney family breaking tradition and hiring an experienced coach - McCarthy has a Lombardi Trophy as a head coach that he won at Pittsburgh’s expense while at Green Bay – for a franchise so rarely in transition.
And yet, they broke camp in Latrobe, PA, with fairly-middling hopes and expectations, which is their new normal. Tomlin grew tired of hearing how long it had been since he’s won a playoff game, let alone a Super Bowl, and Pittsburgh has definitely slipped from NFL royalty in terms of recent form to more firmly into the middle class.
Not many around the NFL fancy Pittsburgh’s chances of being more than a so-so team again, with Baltimore and Cincinnati far more favored to win the AFC North.
Perhaps the Steelers are good enough to sneak back into the postseason like a year ago, but they are too long in the tooth in too many spots to think this is the year Pittsburgh gets back to a lofty perch.
“That’s the third team in the division for me, and it’s a pretty good drop off from the Ravens and the Bengals,” longtime NFL general manager Marty Hurney told me this offseason.
Former Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley, a former head coach who watches the Steelers closely and whose father, Dick, ran the Steelers’ personnel department for 20 years, feels the same way.
“I still think they’re third (in the AFC North),” Haley said, “and I wouldn’t be shocked if they won eight games, and I wouldn’t be shocked if they won 10. That’s kind of the window I see the Steelers in.”
That’s a tight window, indeed. But it’s also a familiar one.
They have won 10 games in three straight years – an accomplishment by Tomlin given how in flux the franchise has been since Roethlisberger finally retired – and have failed to win between 8-10 games just once in the last eight years. This is kind of who they are.
It’s a case of ‘ditto’ for the QB position.
Rodgers is too smart and driven to be totally awful, but is also a shell of what he once was physically, and is too limited in his ability to create explosive plays to make this team feared.
Defensive stalwarts like TJ Watt and Cam Heyward are battling injuries and Father Time, and there are simply too many teams in the AFC with generational quarterbacks to project Pittsburgh to make a real impact.
They should be better on offense, if nothing else. McCarthy is well respected on that side of the ball and Rodgers flourished under him in Green Bay.
They continue to add interesting pieces to the receiver room, trading for DK Metcalf a year ago and adding veteran playmaker Michael Pittman, Jr. this year, plus second-round receiver Gerie Bernard could be an instant weapon in the slot.
“I love the signing of Michael Pittman, Jr.,” Haley said. “I think Metcalf is really good, but I don’t think he’s a standalone, JSN (Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba) type of guy, or a Ja’Marr Chase (Bengals) or CeeDee (Lamb, Cowboys), or some of these guys who can - it just doesn’t matter if you’re getting doubled or whatever – they’re just going to find a way to win.”
“I think the combination of those two is going to really create a situation for Aaron - and he’s so good at the line of scrimmage, and so good at deciphering what the defense is doing - that it’s going to give him a real opportunity to not have to read the entire field. He can make a pre-snap decision with those two out there pretty quickly.”
Haley, as well as execs I chatted with on other clubs, expect the Steelers to lean into multiple tight end looks quite a bit.
They have some significant size at that position, and the offensive line has made strides in recent years, for sure.
The composition of the running-back room, however, gives some pause and there doesn’t appear to be a full complement of body types and skillsets there; perhaps they will ride Jaylen Warren more than in the past, but his workload has always been up for debate.
Warren and new signing Rico Dowdle might be a little redundant.
“I see them kind of as the same guy,” Haley said. “That worries me a little bit. I think the quick fast guy and then the pounder, you want diversity, and I don’t know that they have that now.”
The Steelers have more diversity at quarterback than ever before. Team sources continue to make the case to me that McCarthy is a big believer in 2025 draft pick Will Howard (“Mike loves the kid, I’m telling you,” one staffer said of McCarthy).
Meanwhile, 2026 pick Drew Allard had an excellent preseason debut and the Steelers believe he has real starting potential with the right development.
There are whispers in their building about keeping four QBs, but that seems extreme, and journeyman back-up Mason Rudolph would appear to be the odd-man out.
One general manager told me he doesn’t think either young QB would make it to Pittsburgh’s practice squad (“Someone is signing them,” he opined), and Haley is of the same mindset.
“The one with the most likely chance is maybe Mason; you could still get him back if you needed him,” Haley said.
The fact that Tomlin won’t be there to oversee it all is still quite odd.
He was the coach in Pittsburgh since 2007 when Bill Cowher left the game at a young age to spend more time with his family.
For all that McCarthy has done, Tomlin’s legacy is going to be difficult to replace. Some fans who took him for granted might find that out the hard way.
“Definitely, it’s a loss with Mike T not being there,” Haley said, who has been around and worked with football royalty his entire life with his father’s history in the game.
“You know I’m always going to support Mike T. I think he is one of the best coaches there has been and I have been around some great ones like (Bill) Parcells and (Bill) Belichick and Sean Payton and those guys, and there’s going to be an adjustment.”
