A new season may well be underway in Pittsburgh, but the Steelers very much seem to be turning back the clock.
62-year-old Mike McCarthy has taken over the reins from Mike Tomlin, who stepped down after 19 years.i.e period as head coach of the club.
When McCarthy returns to his hometown to coach the Steelers, McCarthy will be 19 years oldi.e seasons as a head coach after runs with the Green Bay Packers (13 years) and Dallas Cowboys (five years). In those 18 seasons, McCarthy’s offense finished 10th in yards on 11 occasions and 12 times in the top 10 in points.
So while he’s looking to rescue the Steelers from their long-running offensive slump, he’s not looking to change what’s worked for him this fall.
“You have a core belief that sticks in those early years, and then variations come,” McCarthy said recently, via Triblive’s Chris Adamski. “You look at pro football, (there’s) a lot of similar plays, a lot of similar systems – but everyone runs them a little bit differently.
The last time McCarthy broke, he was under quarterback Dak Prescott and Dallas was 21 years old.St in scoring in 2024. McCarthy is taking over a Pittsburgh offense that wasn’t much better in 2025, ranked 16thi.e in scoring – sixth consecutive season outside the top 10 in scoring.
In so many ways, McCarthy’s approach is very much the theme for the 2026 Steelers.
Even if Tomlin moved on, you could argue that Pittsburgh has no business turning back the clock.
McCarthy is reuniting with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who is back for a second year with Pittsburgh and his 22nd.n.d – and apparently last – NFL campaign. Rodgers had three head coaches during his time with the Packers, but the majority of his time was spent with McCarthy as his head coach, and Rodgers is enjoying knowing the offense so far.
“I spent 13 years in (McCarthy’s offense),” Rodgers said. “He’s changed something when he was in Dallas. … It’s stuff we ran, but he’s just called it something else now.”
Rodgers will have another option this time around as the Steelers have acquired Michael Pittman in a trade with the Indianapolis Colts. Pittman bolsters a WR corps led by DK Metcalf and an infusion of youthful energy from second-round pick Germie Bernard.
“It’s just the next generations of West Coast offenses,” Rodgers said of McCarthy’s offense. “It kind of went from Bill Walsh to what Mike was doing with Paul Hackett, and then it’s grown from there.
“From a really fundamental level, it’s all about the quarterback’s timing.”
After beginning his NFL coaching days in 1993 as the offensive line coach and then the quarterbacks coach with the Kansas City Chiefs under head coach Marty Schottenheimer and offensive line coach Hackett, McCarthy has a resume filled with offensive success to go along with a 174-112-2 career record with 12 wins against Rodgers and 12 against Rodgers.
McCarthy and Rodgers’ crowning achievement came on February 6, 2011.
All these years later, Rodgers and McCarthy are looking to see what they still have — and if it’s enough to lead Pittsburgh back to the playoffs. McCarthy booked eight postseason games with Rodgers as his starting quarterback in Green Bay, advancing to the NFC Championship Game in their last playoff appearance in the 2016 season.
The Steelers haven’t experienced a playoff victory since that same 2016 campaign. Maybe Rodgers and McCarthy can turn back the clock to better times for Pittsburgh and themselves.
“I can definitely tell you we’re getting back to our roots,” running backs coach Ramon Chinyoung Jr., who was McCarthy’s assistant in Dallas, said of the offensive identity. “We’re getting back to Coach McCarthy’s roots.