Many Pittsburgh Steelers fans were underwhelmed when the team hired Mike McCarthy to be its new head coach this offseason. They wanted the team to go in a younger direction. However, McCarthy quickly won some of his doubters over with his passion for the job. Still, there are questions about McCarthy, especially when it comes to the postseason. He’s only won one playoff game since the 2017 season. Former NFL scout John Middlekauff thinks that fans should trust McCarthy, though.
“McCarthy has proven, once he left the Packers, he knows what he’s doing,” Middlekauff said recently on his 3 and Out podcast. “If he gets a good quarterback, if he gets a good roster, he can win 12 games. Is he going to go on crazy runs in the playoffs? Probably not.
“But what he did with the Dallas Cowboys, those three years, winning 12 games, winning the division two out of three years, Dak [Prescott] shit the bed in the playoffs. I put it actually more on Dak than McCarthy.”
McCarthy was with the Cowboys from 2020-2024, and they went 12-5 and reached the playoffs in three of those five seasons. Unfortunately for him, the Cowboys only managed to win one playoff game in that time.
Prescott wasn’t at his best in those three playoff losses, throwing five total interceptions. However, it might not be fair to blame him entirely. It was McCarthy’s responsibility to properly prepare his players, and the Cowboys had issues besides Prescott.
Take the team’s 2023 loss to the Green Bay Packers, for example. The Cowboys won their division and had a home playoff game to open the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Packers were 9-8, just barely making the postseason. However, the Cowboys got punched in the mouth, losing 48-32. That included their defense allowing the Packers to run for 143 yards and three touchdowns.
That isn’t the only disappointing playoff loss of McCarthy’s career, either. The Packers went one-and-done three times while he was their head coach, including one season where they went 15-1 in the regular season.
The concern is that the issue will follow McCarthy to Pittsburgh. The Steelers need to win a playoff game. They haven’t done so in almost a decade, and that’s a big reason why Mike Tomlin stepped down. He felt like it was time for a change. However, the Steelers could be in for more of the same with McCarthy. Going 12-5 in the regular season doesn’t matter if they don’t win a playoff game.
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