Steelers Owner Says Mike McCarthy Hire Is About Wins, Not Optics

The Steelers’ hire of Mike McCarthy as their new head coach is generating immediate and widespread fan blowback, but team ownership is pushing right back against that. 

Soon after the departure this month of longtime head coach Mike Tomlin, the Steelers hired McCarthy as their successor. The 62-year-old will be just the fourth person in that role since 1969. McCarthy won a Super Bowl with the Packers 15 years ago, beating the Steelers team he now is joining, but he has just one playoff victory since the 2016 season across stints in both Green Bay and Dallas. That quickly sparked criticism of the choice—despite McCarthy’s western Pennsylvania roots. 

“The leaguewide buzz around McCarthy doesn’t mesh with his objective accomplishments,” wrote ProFootballTalk in a fairly typical comment. “That’s a red flag for the folks who wave yellow towels.”

Art Rooney II, the normally reserved and private Steelers owner, addressed that in an interview with the team’s website.

“We’re really not worried about winning the initial press conference,” Rooney said on Steelers.com. “It’s about picking the coach we believe will help us win games, and social media really doesn’t enter into it. And none of that will matter once we’re starting to play games.”

McCarthy wasn’t linked to other teams with open coaching roles in the league’s current cycle. After leaving the Cowboys following the 2024 season, he had only one interview last year, with the Bears. That differs significantly from the recent furor around John Harbaugh after the Ravens fired him. At least one team without an opening for a head coach inquired about Harbaugh, as well as many others that did have vacancies, and he ultimately landed with the Giants in a five-year, $100 million deal. 

As McCarthy has been in a postseason rut, so, too, have the Steelers, without a playoff victory since the 2016 season. 

Quarterback Watching

The other big question surrounding the McCarthy hire in Pittsburgh is what it means for the future of veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who played this past season for the Steelers to some minor success but is no longer under contract. 

McCarthy and Rodgers won Super Bowl XLV together to complete the 2010 season, but Rodgers is now 42 and not a long-term answer for Pittsburgh or any other franchise.

“We don’t know what Aaron’s plans are right now, and that did not weigh heavily in the decision [to hire McCarthy],” Rooney said. “We’ll see where Aaron is, and we’ve left the door open, but obviously we all have to sit down and see if that makes sense. … And since sooner or later we’re going to be working with a young quarterback here, I think Mike’s ability to develop the next quarterback is something that certainly is important to us.”

The Steelers also have veteran backup Mason Rudolph and Will Howard, a sixth-round draft pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, on the roster.