After an adjusted plan yielded the same result, the Steelers will see a major change in 2026. Mike Tomlin resigned his post, falling a few years short of Chuck Noll for longest-tenured head coach in Steelers history. Tomlin did not seek another job, and it remains to be seen if he will follow Bill Cowher in walking away for good after a Pittsburgh exit.
Rather than go with a young coordinator like they did in 1992 and 2006, the Steelers hired a Pittsburgh native with nearly 20 years' worth of HC experience. Mike McCarthy is not positioned to be a long-term answer with his hometown team, and the former Packers and Cowboys leader is one of the oldest HCs hired in NFL history. Will McCarthy start his Pittsburgh tenure with an Aaron Rodgers reunion?
Coaching/front office:
- Head coach Mike Tomlin resigned after 19 seasons
- Mike McCarthy hired as HC replacement
- Hired Brian Angelichio as offensive coordinator
- Hired Patrick Graham as defensive coordinator
- Tabbed James Campen as offensive line coach, Jahri Evans as assistant OL coach
- Retained Tom Arth as quarterbacks coach
- Hired Jason Simmons as defensive pass-game coordinator
- Added Joe Whitt as secondary coach, Domata Peko as D-line coach
- Assistant GM Andy Weidl interviewed for Falcons' GM job
Tomlin became the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl at the time of the Steelers' Super Bowl XLIII conquest; he was 36 when the team held off the Cardinals. Sean McVay eclipsed that (by winning at 35), but Tomlin's ascent remains among the fastest in NFL history. The quotable leader then led the Steelers back to the biggest stage, with the team narrowly losing to Rodgers' Packers in Super Bowl XLV. Pittsburgh remained an AFC power in the years to follow, reaching the 2016 conference title game. But the ensuing postseason skid had come to define the back half of Tomlin's tenure.
That free agent list is very telling about this team. Quite literally, they could let the great majority of those guys go because they’ve offered little here. On top of that they’re hamstrung by a contract like Watt’s and the idea that they’re again courting an aging QB who should just be a placeholder here at best, as a promising “franchise QB” learns and matures. The truth is, it seems they are going to be in the same position at that position as they have been the past few seasons with the idea that perhaps they’ll look at Will Howard more closely this spring.
It’s going to be interesting to see their doings this spring but with the roster they currently have filled with so many holes, it’s hard to hope for more than what they’ve been producing.
Thanks. Good article.