There are at least two things Mike McCarthy is certain about as he begins his third stint as an NFL head coach, what he's inheriting and what he can bring to the table.
"The team won the (AFC North) Division last year," McCarthy acknowledged today at the NFL Annual League Meeting in Phoenix. "It's a playoff football team. I viewed the team that way as a fan last year. I was able to sit back and I watched the Steelers, the Cowboys and the Packers. I tried to watch all three teams as a fan just because of the connection with the three teams.
"I thought (the Steelers) had some really good moments. I was just talking to (outside linebacker) Nick Herbig about this, I really liked the vibe of the team coming down the stretch. I thought they were coming together. I said, 'I thought you guys were really positioned to make a run.' We've seen it time and time again, if you can play good football and maybe your lows are not too low and the ebb and flow of your team is consistent, you can hit that December stretch, you can go on a playoff run. That's my opinion of last year.
"And you have change, now you turn the page. New coaching staff, it'll be a new system of operation so it's important for us to connect. Winning is a huge part of the Pittsburgh Steelers culture. I'm bringing a winning process to Pittsburgh and we plan on winning."
McCarthy has done plenty of that in his previous stops as the head coach in Green Bay (2006-18) and Dallas (2020-24).
At 62, he wasn't sure a third such opportunity would be coming, McCarthy acknowledged today.
But he has no doubts in is ability to maximize the chance he's been given with the Steelers, his hometown team.
"I have confidence in my abilities but I'm also realistic," McCarthy explained. "Growing up, to sit here and say that I dreamt, in my fifth grade diaries I wrote down I wanted to be the head coach of three NFL teams, that's not true.
"I've been super-blessed for the people that I grew up around, starting with the way I was raised, the NFL coaches that I was able to train under, the University of Pittsburgh coaching staff that I was on. So I have a lot of confidence in my education and my experience through the league and feel that I would have a lot to offer to a club.
"I've been around the block a few times and I'm very comfortable in my own skin. And I'm not gonna lie to you, I love being a full-time dad. I've been able to do it twice, in '19 and this past year. The year off was very, very rewarding for me.
"This opportunity, just the way it came about, I had to come back. If there was ever a no-brainer opportunity in my lifetime, this was it. But definitely, I have a lot of confidence in my ability."
What remains unknown officially is whether Aaron Rodgers will return to the Steelers to be McCarthy's starting quarterback, as Rodgers was for 11 seasons with the Packers, starting in 2008.
McCarthy said today he's "confident" it'll work out that way eventually but reiterated he didn't want to get into "timelines" as to when Rodgers' status might be resolved.
McCarthy was much more expansive in revisiting the potential he's repeatedly said he sees in 2025 sixth-round quarterback Will Howard.
"The biggest thing with Will, and it's probably consistent with young quarterbacks, they've got to win from the pocket," McCarthy explained. "At the end of the day, nine,10 games a year are going to come down to the two-minute drill. That's what the stats tell you, that's the way we train.
"I think he has everything else. People get caught up on what round he went in, but if I was drafting players that year he wouldn't have been around in the fifth or sixth round. I valued him higher than that based off Kansas State and, man, I thought he jumped out of the TV set during the college playoffs. I mean, what is there not to like about the guy?
"I think he's definitely a real prospect as a starting quarterback. I believed that when he came out. You can talk about his throwing motion. You can talk about some things throwing the ball. I think there's a lot of growth with his feet (that can potentially occur). The challenge I see in college football, it's so scheme heavy and they're running these quarterbacks and their schemes are diverse, there's not a lot of training in the footwork.
"So throwing the ball, and you got the best guy that's probably ever done it in Aaron Rodgers (as a potential mentor for a second consecutive season). You look at the way Aaron throws, just watch his feet. Watch the ground-force explosion that comes up through his feet, through his hips into his throwing motion.
"My point is there's room for development. I think there's a lot to work with with Will. I'm excited to work with him."
