The Pittsburgh Steelers have a new head coach, but the expectations and pressure remain the same as ever. Often, when there’s a regime change, it can take time before a franchise is ready to start winning. Not in Pittsburgh.
On Good Morning Football, when asked which NFL team with a new head coach had the most pressure to win, Kyle Brandt was quick to select the Steelers under Mike McCarthy.
“Don’t come in here and go 8-9. Don’t come in here and go 7-10. There is an expectation that you will win every single year,” Brandt said on GMFB. If Mike McCarthy comes in and stumbles out of the gate, that’s not acceptable here. Not to mention, when Aaron Rodgers is your quarterback, and he will be, you’ve got one shot with him and then you’ve got to start the whole thing over again. There’s always a pressure here. There’s no warm-up season.”
If the Steelers’ roster construction and coaching hires are any indication, Brandt is correct. Instead of moving on from veterans and starting with a fresh slate, Pittsburgh retained key veterans including Cam Heyward, TJ Watt and Jalen Ramsey. Aaron Rodgers seems likely to join that list as well. The choice of Mike McCarthy as head coach instead of a young, up-and-coming candidate points to the fact that the Steelers aren’t looking for a rebuild.
When Mike Tomlin stepped down after 19 seasons as head coach, Art Rooney II shot down the idea of a rebuild. Right or wrong, it’s not in the Steelers’ DNA to drastically tear it all down in hopes of building it back up. Maybe the pressure for the organization to win is the reason for that mentality. Or perhaps that mentality is the reason that pressure exists in the first place.
All eyes now turn to Mike McCarthy and what he will be able to accomplish in his first season with Pittsburgh. While he has a history of winning, both of his previous head coaching spots took a season before his teams became competitive. In his first season as a head coach, he led the Green Bay Packers to an 8-8 record in 2006. It was one of only two non-playoff seasons he endured in his first 11 seasons in Green Bay.
With the Dallas Cowboys, McCarthy went 6-10 in his first season as head coach. After that, Dallas reeled off three straight 12-5 seasons. Based on the expectations in Pittsburgh, McCarthy will have to hit the ground running to bring some hope to a franchise that has now gone nine seasons without a playoff win.
Whether that urgency proves to be a positive or a negative remains to be seen. If Aaron Rodgers returns, the 2026 season feels like it will be another Hail Mary attempt with a veteran core to achieve some semblance of playoff success. As the time passes, the pressure will only continue to grow, no matter who’s the head coach.
Recommended for you