The Pittsburgh Steelers enter the 2026 offseason with more questions than ever, as they’ll be without head coach Mike Tomlin for the first time in decades. With that, many questions have continued to come up.

In ESPN’s early power rankings heading into next season, Pittsburgh landed at No. 21, a brutal ranking that shows this roster and coaching staff are in a spot that neither has been in a long time.

Advertisement

This is the first full offseason following the team’s decision to move on from Tomlin, heading into the Mike McCarthy era. While the coaching change could be a good thing or signal something else, ESPN’s Brooke Pryor stated that the internal expectations aren’t to rebuild.

“Though the Steelers changed from Mike Tomlin to Mike McCarthy at head coach, they still don’t have clarity on the starting quarterback for the 2026 season. But team president and CEO Art Rooney II was clear that he doesn’t view the offseason as an opportunity to rebuild. Instead, Rooney signaled in his actions and words that he believes his roster is primed to break the drought of playoff success. After McCarthy finishes building his staff, the next priority to fulfilling Rooney’s wishes is to identify the next franchise QB — either in the upcoming draft or via a bridge QB until the Steelers can secure their signal-caller of the future,” Pryor wrote.

Rather than tearing down the roster, the Steelers appear to be in a position to get better, which again, could be a good or bad thing. We’ll simply just have to see it playout in real time.

Advertisement

Whether Pittsburgh takes a rookie quarterback in the draft or brings Aaron Rodgers back will be a big part in the early success to McCarthy’s tenure. His offensive background suggests the franchise will prioritize a quarterback capable of getting the job done and he has a lot of familiarity with Rodgers.

If so, the No. 21 ranking then would be very unfair, but they’ll have to show that’s the case before we give them much love. Defensively, the Steelers still have enough talent to remain competitive, so it’s really going to just be on the offense.