The Steelers’ search for a head coach is a main driver of the news cycle for the moment, and people want the race handicapped. With two in-person interviews underway and more on the horizon, what is the feeling? Pittsburgh has a mixture of candidates, some young, others very experienced. Some have an offensive background, while many skew to the defensive side.
This week, the Steelers have conducted in-person interviews with Brian Flores and Mike McCarthy, with Anthony Weaver pending. They are likely to also want in-person interviews with Rams coaches Chris Shula and Nate Scheelhaase, but they must wait. What are those around the NFL hearing?
“Brian Flores, Chris Shula and Mike McCarthy are regarded by some connected to the leaguewide hiring process as strong contenders for the Steelers’ job”, Washington Post NFL reporter Mark Maske wrote yesterday via X. While Flores just signed a new contract as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator, he is still free to sign a head coach contract with another team, with the Steelers and Ravens among his suitors.
Of the three candidates, the one who best fits the Steelers’ so-called head coach profile is Chris Shula. He is in his 30s, he has a defensive background, and he has never been a head coach before. That was also true of Mike Tomlin, Bill Cowher, and Chuck Noll, who combined to win the Steelers six Super Bowls.
Brian Flores spent one season on the Steelers’ staff under Mike Tomlin, who resigned as head coach last week. That is the reason we are talking about Mike McCarthy, of course, who did not coach in the NFL in 2025. But he has ample NFL experience with both the Packers, with whom he defeated the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, and the Cowboys.
The Steelers cannot conduct in-person interviews for their vacant head coach position with coaches whose teams are still playing. They have a window after the conference finals during which they can interview Chris Shula, and also Nate Scheelhaase. But, if they wanted to, they couldn’t interview coaches from the Broncos or Seahawks.
In theory, the Steelers can continue to widen their head coach search indefinitely. There is nothing saying that they must have a head coach under contract before the end of the season. And if they wanted to hire a coach who is competing in the Super Bowl, they couldn’t formally hire him until after that, anyway.
But are Flores, McCarthy, and Shula the leading candidates to become the Steelers’ next head coach? Mark Kaboly called McCarthy the betting favorite. Will more candidates surface, or is Pittsburgh casting a fairly shallow net? I imagine most would be happy with Shula, could live with Flores, and…well, I’m not really sure what the feeling is on McCarthy, but he certainly isn’t their typical hire. Insofar as you can have a “typical” hire with three examples in more than half a century.