The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the midst of a philosophy change: having been a led by a defensive head coach for decades. The team is now shifting to the offensive side. Under Mike Tomlin, the offense became conservative, never taking risks and keeping the ball on the ground. Now, under Mike McCarthy, the unit will be much more dynamic, using all parts of the field rather than just outside the numbers. The middle of the field should finally be exploited, and the running game will introduce new concepts the Steelers don't typically utilize. The collective will finally have an identity, something that hasn't been revealed for years.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers' quarterback Aaron Rodgers throwing a pass during day one of training camp on July 29, 2026.
Under Tomlin, the offense never had any real identity — no bread and butter. It was a mangled mess that lost the franchise plenty of games. Not having a quarterback certainly made things tough, but the offensive approach was far too safe to have any real reward. Even when Tomlin had Aaron Rodgers in his final season as the Steelers' head coach, he was still very conservative in his offensive game plans and in his judgment on fourth-down calls.
Tomlin never revealed the identities of his football teams, or at least he never shared them with the media. Judging by the play of his rosters, a safe assumption would be that his groups in his final seasons had no identity. McCarthy is still very early in his first training camp with the Steelers, but he may already know what he wants his collective to be going into his first season.
Team insider Mark Kaboly recently appeared on an episode of his show, Kaboly + Mack, in which the pair discussed training camp thus far. Kaboly mentioned that, when asked midseason what the team's identity was, Tomlin never gave a straight answer. Kaboly believes that won't be the case with McCarthy, who he says has a plan and is sticking to it.
"You know how midway through the season you'd always ask Tomlin, what's the identity of this team? We don't know yet. I think Mike McCarthy already knows the identity of his team and what he wants it to be," Kaboly said. "He knows what he wants to do. He wants to run the ball. He wants to play action. He wants to hit the deep balls. He wants the quarterback to get on the edge. He wants the quarterback to be the central point of the offense."
McCarthy has done a tremendous job of making the team his, erasing anything from the previous regime. He will be the offensive play-caller, giving him complete control. The identity is what McCarthy wants it to be, and Kaboly described it. Things like identities can always change midseason when things just aren't clicking, and that could certainly happen in 2026 with players in a new scheme, not to mention Rodgers' age.
Jordan Perez / Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy walks with his arm around quarterback Aaron Rodgers at 2026 training camp.
McCarthy is smart enough to recognize when things are meant to be, and he will make the adjustments accordingly. However, his identity this season should fit the team very nicely, running the ball and hitting play action off of that. Rodgers was still very effective off play action in 2025, and the run game got a huge upgrade with Rico Dowdle joining Jaylen Warren in the backfield.
Steelers Offensive Identity May Be Perfect For Personnel
The Steelers have one of the bigger wide receiver corps in the NFL, with DK Metcalf, Michael Pittman Jr, and Germie Bernard all being over 6'0". Along with Darnell Washington being a mountain, they have really big personnel, meaning the run game should be able to hit for chunks. When the run works, the pass works better, and that's where the Steelers will deal.
The offensive line will need to be stout this season, with the changes they've gone through. Zach Frazier is the only player in the group returning to his normal spot, so there are wrinkles they will have to work out, but the offensive identity will be a very fun one to watch unfold.
#SteelerNation