Steelers Now
With the Los Angeles Rams defeating the Chicago Bears in the NFC Divisional Round on Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers head coaching search might have just been pushed back a week.
The Rams’ 20-17 overtime victory over the Bears sent the Rams to the NFC Championship Game, where they will face the Seattle Seahawks.
That means the Steelers will have to wait another week to do in-person interviews with two of their nine head coach candidates: Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula and pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase.
If the Rams had lost to the Bears, the Steelers would have been able to bring in Shula and Scheelhaase on Monday. Now with them playing in the NFC Championship Game, they must wait until next Monday. The Steelers will be able to interview both coaches in the week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, whether the Rams win or lose in Seattle next week.
The Steelers have already interviewed Shula and Scheelhaase virtually, along with Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley and San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak.
The team has also set up in-person interviews this week with former Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy and Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
The Steelers can bring Hafley, Minter and Kubiak in this week for second, in-person interviews, if they choose to. The Steelers must interview two minority candidates in person to satisfy the Rooney Rule, of which Flores will qualify as one of the two.
Shula is the betting favorite to land the job, and it seems unlikely that Art Rooney II and Omar Khan will make a decision without first meeting with him in person.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Rams Win Could Push Back Steelers Coaching Search a Week
