Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers weren’t a bottom feeder last season. They weren’t in disarray under now-former longtime head coach Mike Tomlin, which makes it a different sort of situation for Mike McCarthy to walk into.
Now at his third NFL head coaching stop, McCarthy is in charge for his hometown team. But the warmth of the feel-good story won’t be there once things get going, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer believes.
Breer listed the teams he think are under the most pressure this upcoming season, with McCarthy’s Steelers being one of them.
“I look at three teams with first-year coaches, in Buffalo, Baltimore and Pittsburgh,” Breer said Thursday on “The Breer Report.” “This is a different situation than most first-year coaches walk into. A lot of times, if you’re a first-year head coach, you’re inheriting something broken. You’re walking into a place where you can say to the players, ‘The way you were doing it wasn’t working, so here are our new answers, here’s my way of doing it.’
“Pittsburgh was in the playoffs last year. … I think there’s a lot more pressure than there normally would be on a first-year head coach to perform.”
Aaron Rodgers’ “last hurrah as an NFL quarterback” ramps up expectations for the Steelers, as well, Breer added. The four-time Associated Press NFL MVP’s case is a unique one, being that no other signal-caller in recent history has announced a farewell tour before it began.
McCarthy spent a year away from coaching before returning. He’ll call the plays for the Steelers’ offense, which will be interesting to watch as training camp gets underway.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Analyst Underlines Unusual Challenge for Steelers HC Mike McCarthy
