This offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers made the move to hire Super Bowl-winning head coach Mike McCarthy to take over for former head coach Mike Tomlin, who stepped down following the team’s latest postseason loss. Now, McCarthy will be tasked with guiding the organization into a new era while closing the book on the storied career of his longtime quarterback, Aaron Rodgers.
While appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday, future Hall of Fame defender and current NFL analyst J.J. Watt shared his thoughts on how the season may go for Pittsburgh. In fact, he is interested in seeing if things change under McCarthy’s watch.
The Pittsburgh Steelers Enter a New Era
GettyThe Steelers will be the third NFL team that Mike McCarthy has been the head coach of (Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys).
Here is what Watt had to say about McCarthy succeeding Tomlin in the Steel City:
“It’s gonna be very interesting to watch how this goes because of the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers…What does the coaching style look like? How are practices set up? … How does an offensive coach work there with Aaron Rodgers?”
—@JJWatt on Mike McCarthy succeeding Mike Tomlin as Steelers head coach 🏈
(via @PatMcAfeeShow)
These questions from the former three-time Defensive Player of the Year are fair. They are fair because no one knows how a new season is going to work out for any team. Furthermore, no one knows how a whole new regime will do as it takes over for a storied organization like the one in Pittsburgh.
The great news is that McCarthy has plenty of NFL head-coaching experience. That head-coaching experience came with two other historic organizations, the Packers and the Cowboys.
McCarthy coached the Packers for nearly 13 seasons (2006-2018) and guided them to nine playoff appearances. In that stretch, Green Bay won six NFC North titles, appeared in three NFC Championship games, and brought home Super Bowl XLV.
He would then go on to become the head coach in Dallas for five seasons (2020-2024). The Cowboys would win 12 games on three separate occasions and make the playoffs three times in McCarthy’s five years.
Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy Look to Recapture Green Bay Magic
GettyAaron Rodgers started for 11 seasons under Mike McCarthy while with the Packers (2008-2018).
Steelers fans should be excited about the fact that McCarthy is an offensive head coach. Tomlin wasn’t that. Pittsburgh has struggled to produce elite offenses ever since the height of the Ben Roethlisberger days. Not only is McCarthy a very good offensive coach, but he is also a quarterback guru. He has worked with the likes of Joe Montana, Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Alex Smith, and Dak Prescott.
As it pertains to Rodgers, he and McCarthy formed one of the best head coach-quarterback duos in NFL history during their time in Green Bay. They won 107 games together, including playoffs, during their run along Lombardi Avenue. That puts them in the top 10 all-time among head coach-quarterback duos. Rodgers made seven Pro Bowls and won the first two MVPs of his career thanks to the help of McCarthy. If they can recapture some of their magical chemistry, the Steelers could be a real AFC threat in 2026.
J.J. Watt Questions Steelers Ahead of Training Camp