Key Difference Between Steelers' Mike McCarthy And Mike Tomlin Uncovered

The Pittsburgh Steelers were forced into perhaps the most necessary change in recent memory as they are going on nine years without a playoff win. After Mike Tomlin's agonizing last few seasons, which saw the team get annihilated in the Wild Card round three years in a row, he resigned, leaving the organization in search of its 17th head coach. Now, in comes Mike McCarthy, a fellow yinzer who focuses on offense. McCarthy is a Super Bowl-winning head coach who has produced some great offenses in his time, and he will be looking to completely flip what Tomlin did.

In the 2010s, the Steelers had prime Ben Roethlisberger along with the Killer Bs, boasting one of the NFL's most dynamic offenses. Then, once the group was dismantled, the offense was never able to bounce back. For years, the unit has been void of talent, with the team failing to make the appropriate investments on that side of the ball. Instead, it has trotted out the NFL's most expensive defense since 2021. 

After firing Todd Haley following the Wild Card loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2017 season, the Steelers haven't found a suitable replacement. Much of that blame can be put on Tomlin, who ended up changing his offensive approach to a much more conservative style post-Roethlisberger. The offensive game plans often looked very vanilla and unprepared, with the opposing team's defense dictating the play calls rather than vice versa. 

Lots of McCarthy's changes are being noted by players and reporters, but one more has just been revealed by a team insider. Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently appeared on the radio show, Sportsline With George Von Benko, where he talked about what the Steelers are getting in McCarthy as a play caller. Fittipaldo believes that, on top of a new scheme, the play calls and the game plan will both be more dynamic.

"You're gonna have a more confident play caller, more confident game plan, and I think that will serve the Steelers well," Fittipaldo said. 

The Steelers' last three offensive coordinators were Randy Fichtner, Matt Canada, and, most recently, Arthur Smith. Fichtner had a great opening season, with the Steelers finishing as one of the best offenses in the NFL in the 2018 campaign, but was never able to replicate the production of that year. Canada was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2021 and would eventually hear "fire Canada" at not only Steelers games, but Pittsburgh Penguins games as well. 

When Tomlin hired Smith as his newest offensive coordinator, there was more excitement than usual. Smith had recently run great offenses with the Tennessee Titans and even appeared in an AFC Championship Game. With Tomlin's conservative approach and Smith's run-heavy, play-action scheme, it should have been a match made in heaven. Unfortunately for the Steelers, it was not, with the same problems consistently appearing: poor scheme and worse game plans. 

McCarthy will be reuniting with his best product as a coach in Aaron Rodgers for one final season. Rodgers will play for the guy who started his career, and, now, end it. The two had great success with the Green Bay Packers, but things ran stale, and McCarthy was fired in 2018. Both have since evolved in the NFL, with Rodgers having a career resurgence and McCarthy having a lot of success with the Dallas Cowboys. 

Steelers Offense Should Be Much Better In 2026

Tomlin will one day be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, but his inability to find capable coordinators was one of his biggest downfalls. McCarthy has already hired two coordinators who could be very promising, with Patrick Graham and Brian Angelichio. 

Angelichio comes from one of the best offensive systems in the NFL under Kevin O'Connell and will now help McCarthy with game plans and even some play calls. With this offensive staff, the offense can potentially be leagues better than the past two we've seen. 

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