On Saturday, Steelers fans got the long-awaited announcement they’ve been waiting for: the name of their next head coach.

However, it wasn’t the name many fans were pulling for. The team announced that they had a “verbal agreement” with 62-year-old Mike McCarthy to become the new head coach of the Steelers, a decision that was not met with much positive fanfare.

McCarthy, a local kid who grew up in the Greenfield neighborhood and still has ties here locally, was not seen as a legitimate contender for the job until just days ago. He interviewed with the team on Wednesday, and his name really started to pick up steam among reporters after that.

But while this is (for now) an unpopular move with Steelers fans, it’s pretty telling about how they conducted a search for a head coach (something they haven’t had to do in 19 years), and about how they see themselves.

Here’s three things the McCarthy hire tells me about them.

1: The Steelers Are Fine With The Status Quo

In his end-of-season press conference, owner Art Rooney II made clear that his initial plan was to retain Tomlin for the upcoming season. Rooney said he was “willing to take another run at it next year with Mike.”

Now, we can put on our tinfoil hats and wonder whether “another year” meant just one more year (as in, the final year of Tomlin’s contract) or another year and an extension in place as well. But no matter which idea you believe in, the short-term remains the same. For 2026, Rooney was comfortable with keeping things the same.

And so, this hire feels like the Steelers trying to find the closest possible person to Tomlin. I mean they even share a first name, for god’s sake!

Despite the two men having wildly different national narratives, they have incredibly similar career résumés. Both won a Super Bowl many years ago (McCarthy, ironically, beat Tomlin to do it), and have had disappointing playoff records after that.

After his Super Bowl win in the 2008 season, Tomlin went 5-11. After McCarthy won his ring in the 2011 season, he went 6-8. That’s better, but not by much. In addition to that, both both have very similar career records in the regular season. In 19 years, Tomlin accumulated a .628 winning percentage. McCarthy, in 18 years, has a .608.

This was a chance to fully hit the reset button and start fresh. Instead, the Steelers are hoping that the method they’ve tried for a decade now can finally break through.

It’s pretty easy to see a McCarthy-led Steelers team going 9-8 or 10-7, maybe making the playoffs, and then being handedly dismissed in the first round.

2: The Steelers Really Don’t Want To Rebuild

Rooney, in that same presser, also downplayed the idea that Tomlin’s departure could lead the Steelers into a natural rebuild. He said he “didn’t like that word” and said he was “not sure why you waste a year of your life not trying to contend.”

Those are strong words from an owner who presides over an aging Steelers roster. It’s admirable to always want your team to be competitive and a threat to win it all, but sometimes trying to do that for too long comes at the expense of the long-term health of your franchise.

The only quarterbacks under contract for 2026 are backup Mason Rudolph and rookie sixth-rounder Will Howard, who has never taken so much as a preseason snap of NFL football. It’s possible that this hiring was made in part with the hopes of luring back Aaron Rodgers, who once worked with McCarthy for years in Green Bay.

Rodgers, who seemed likely to retire after playing his 21st season in Pittsburgh, has not officially made a decision. Most fans would agree that the organization should not be making long-term decisions with a 42-year-old quarterback in mind. But, given how weak both the free agency and draft classes are this year, the Steelers might feel that he is their best bet heading into next year.

At any rate, though, McCarthy is not the coach you hire to rebuild. At least, he’s not the guy you hire to do that intentionally with. His career résumé suggests that his Steelers will have too high of a floor to truly bottom out. And if the Steelers believe McCarthy is an answer, it probably eliminates the possibility of trading some of the team’s stars, including a TJ Watt.

3: The Steelers, For Some Reason, Felt Rushed

This decision reeks of the Steelers feeling rushed to hurry up and make a decision, even though no one was really forcing them to do that.

Pittsburgh didn’t even wait until they could talk to two of their most prominent candidates, Chris Shula and Nate Scheelhaase. Shula, the defensive coordinator with the Los Angeles Rams, was long seen as the front runner for the job. Shula, who will turn 40 in a few weeks, comes from the Sean McVay coaching tree and has led a successful defense out in Los Angeles for the last two years now.

Scheelhaase, also a member of the McVay system, is currently the pass game coordinator for the Rams, a role he has held since 2024. A 35-year-old up-and-comer, Scheelhaase is seen as potentially the next great offensive guru. There was some reasonable concern over his lack of experience; it’s not common to see someone promoted to head coach who never served as a coordinator, but the Steelers were not the only team interested in handing him the keys to their organization.

But all of that seems moot now. With the Rams playing in the NFC Championship game today, the Steelers had to wait to get another chance to speak with either candidate. In the meantime, they focused on McCarthy, who seemed to have no other real suitors in the job market. The only other job McCarthy was linked to was Tennessee, and he took himself out of the running for that gig.

He was all in on this job, and while maybe eventually he would have landed it anyways, the Steelers could have waited. They actively chose not to.