With each passing day that the league inches a step closer to the 2026 season, expectations keep growing for Mike McCarthy. Ever since McCarthy (a Pittsburgh native) replaced Mike Tomlin as the 17th head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, he’s been under a lot of scrutiny. The reason behind the skepticism is easy to understand. With Mike Tomlin, the franchise had stability (even if they last won a Super Bowl 17 years ago), but would they still find the same stability under their newly appointed head coach?

Senior NFL Insider Dan Graziano has an answer for the question. “Mike McCarthy is a good, proven, competent head coach, and bringing him in to replace Tomlin tells us the Steelers’ plan is to keep the train on the tracks,” he reported on March 16 via ESPN.

“But the Steelers have had a really limited ceiling for a decade now, and at some point the floor is going to drop out.”

For 22 years, the Steelers have not recorded a losing season. 2003 was the last time they posted a losing season, when Bill Cowher was the head coach. But Graziano believes it could all change this year, and there are a few pretty good reasons for this belief.

Over his 17-year-long career as a head coach in the NFL, Mike McCarthy has posted a regular-season record of 174–112–2. McCarthy is also one of the only five head coaches, among Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Andy Reid, and Bill Belichick, to lead a franchise to eight consecutive playoff appearances.

Whereas Mike Tomlin’s last five seasons saw the Steelers finishing with 9, 9, 10, 10, and 10 wins. Although 2016 was the last time they experienced a playoff win, their consistency and stability in the regular season were admirable.

McCarthy, who coincidentally led the Packers to a Super Bowl win against the Steelers during the 2010 season, comes with a good enough resume. McCarthy, who last head-coached the Cowboys, led them to two NFC East titles and, before that, the Packers to six NFC North wins.

And while the head coach may only have one Super Bowl to his name, his quarterback at that time has an interesting connection to the Steelers. Aaron Rodgers.

The former Patriots’ QB’s career was at its peak under McCarthy’s guidance. Rodgers won the first two of his four league MVP awards while playing for Mike. And while owner Art Rooney II and General Manager Omar Khan may not have hired McCarthy to convince Rodgers to play another season, their previous connection can push the QB into thinking otherwise.

For now, the Steelers may not have a franchise quarterback, but Graziano firmly believes the winning tradition is nearing its end, as did a long tradition that the team followed for a long time.

Mike McCarthy did not visit the Clemson Tigers during Pro Day

For years, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Clemson Tigers have had a special relationship. Each year, the Tigers host a Pro Day, and either Mike Tomlin or former general manager Kevin Colbert would visit them. After Omar Khan replaced Colbert, he too attended Pro Day, but this year, something changed.

Last week, the Clemson Tigers hosted their Pro Day. But neither head coach Mike McCarthy nor Omar Khan visited them.

Surprisingly, it was VP of Player Personnel Dan Rooney Jr. and area scout Zack Crockett who carried the duties that the head coach and general manager had been doing for years. One of the main reasons for the visits was scouting players before drafting them. Devin Bush (2019), Najee Harris (2021), Kenny Pickett (2022), and Broderick Jones (2023) are a few of the names that were scouted at their Pro Days.

Even this year, too, a few individuals have gained the Steelers’ attention. Defensive lineman Peter Woods, wide receiver Antonio Williams, and quarterback Cade Klubnik were among the notable names drawing attention.

Former HC Mike Tomlin often used to arrive a day early to take part in the Clemson Tigers’ practice. Unfortunately, that tradition was off the table this year. Now, it remains to be seen whether this is the only tradition or if their winning season tradition will also suffer the same fate.