In his 19-year tenure as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin never won the NFL Coach of the Year award. NFL Media’s Bucky Brooks believes Tomlin’s successor has a chance to win the award in his first season at the helm.
Brooks picked longshot candidates who have a chance to win the league’s major awards. For Coach of the Year, he tabbed Mike McCarthy.
“If the veteran coach can get Aaron Rodgers to play like a top-half quarterback in a system that minimizes his deficiencies as a 42-year-old — while simultaneously prodding defensive coordinator Patrick Graham to help the vaunted defense regain its swagger and suffocating style — the Steelers will make plenty of noise as contenders. Inherently, McCarthy could win his first Coach of the Year award,” Brooks wrote.
By its nature, the Coach of the Year award usually goes to someone who exceeded expectations. It doesn’t always go to the coach who led his team to the most success. With the Steelers’ expectations always high under Tomlin, it was an award he didn’t add to his trophy cabinet.
That’s one factor that makes McCarthy a good longshot candidate. Even with the staff turnover, the Steelers still have a talented roster that should be good enough to make the postseason.
For McCarthy to be considered, the Steelers will have to play like one of the NFL’s best teams. A 10-7 or even an 11-6 season probably isn’t good enough for McCarthy to win, even though he’s in his first year in Pittsburgh.
Tomlin never won the award, but the same can be said for McCarthy, despite having plenty of success with the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys. Simply meeting high expectations isn’t good enough. The Steelers must look like a true contender this season for McCarthy to get consideration from voters.
It’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility. A new defensive coordinator could help Pittsburgh’s talented defense play to its full potential.
McCarthy is also taking over as offensive playcaller, which could help Aaron Rodgers prove his doubters wrong in his final NFL season and take the unit to the next level.
But for McCarthy to win, a lot would have to go right for the Steelers. The current odds of him winning the award on DraftKings are +1600, the seventh-most likely in the league. But when compared to coaches like John Harbaugh (+600) or Jesse Minter (+900), McCarthy’s chances appear slim.
It would take a special season in Pittsburgh for McCarthy to take home some hardware, but he’ll do everything in his power to help his hometown team win. A trophy would be a nice bonus on top of it.