News is coming out of Pittsburgh, according to Adam Schefter, that a Steelers Mike McCarthy hire is in the works and imminent. The team had interviewed several candidates to fill the head coaching spot left vacant when Mike Tomlin stepped away. The former Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers coach was the one they felt fit what they were looking to do in the near and distant future, and now he will be patrolling the sidelines in Pennsylvania.
A Record Of Success On Offense
McCarthy began his career as a quarterbacks coach for the Kansas City Chiefs and Packers, before getting an offensive coordinator gig with the New Orleans Saints. Based on his results with the quarterbacks he coached, he didn’t do the greatest job. Steve Bono, Elvis Grbac, and Rich Gannon all had some of their worst completion percentages under his watch. In his one season as the quarterbacks coach in Green Bay, Brett Favre had his second-worst completion percentage of his career (57.3).
From 2000 to 2005 with the Saints, it was Aaron Brooks who took the majority of the snaps for McCarthy, and he never had a season in which he completed over 60% of his passes. In McCarthy’s final season (2005) as the OC in New Orleans, he had the 31st-ranked offense in the league (14.7 points per game), which earned him his first head coaching gig with Green Bay. His first season there, Favre had his worst season for completion percentage (56.0), and the team went 8-8.
Once McCarthy got Aaron Rodgers under center, things really took off for him. Rodgers is one of the most accurate passers in the history of the game (65.1%), and it’s no surprise that the two of them amassed a record of 106-68-2 with a Lombardi trophy.
McCarthy had nine top-10 offenses with Green Bay (six top-5), and his teams averaged 25.95 points per contest.
In 2020, he coached his first season in Dallas, and while the team went 6-10, it wasn’t completely McCarthy’s fault. Starting quarterback Oak Prescott was injured early on, and the Cowboys had four different starting quarterbacks. In three seasons with a healthy Oak, McCarthy went 36-15 with three top-five offenses, including the top scoring offense in the league twice (31.2ppg in 2021 and 29.9ppg in 2023). In those three seasons, Prescott completed 68.8, 66.2, and 69.5 percent of his passes.
Steelers Mike McCarthy Needs A Quarterback
It’s unlikely that the McCarthy hire will lure Rodgers back to Pittsburgh, at least Steelers fans should hope not. He’s too old and just not the same player he used to be. The next McCarthy quarterback will either come by way of free agency (Malik Willis would be an amazing fit) or the 2026 NFL Draft. Pittsburgh picks 21st, so they will be nowhere near the top passer in the draft (Fernando Mendoza), so they will be looking at someone
from the group of Ty Simpson, Trinidad Chambliss, Garrett Nussmeier, Carson Beck, or Drew Allar.
Anything can happen in the pre-Draft process, and anyone’s stock can jump significantly. The Steelers have an identity of a run-first, ground-and-pound team, and McCarthy has only had success with accurate passers. It may come down to a second-round decision on Beck or Allar. Both have prototypical size, and Beck has been extremely accurate throughout his career.
The pieces are in place for Pittsburgh to continue its winning ways under McCarthy. He’s done it before, and he can do it again. The AFC North has been put on notice, and this hiring by the Steelers should make them all nervous.
