The NFL had one of the biggest coaching carousels in recent memory this offseason. Ten teams, nearly a third of the league, had head coaching vacancies for one reason or another. The Pittsburgh Steelers, for the first time since 2007, were one of those teams. They hired former Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy.

We’ve all scrutinized the hire. After all, this was only the fourth time since 1969 that the Steelers had to hire a head coach. Plus, the Steelers went to the playoffs last year. Ironically, they were one of three playoff teams looking for a new head coach. So, how did the Steelers’ hire stack up among the rest? SI’s Conor Orr ranked the Steelers/McCarthy hire as the seventh-best head coaching hire (while giving it a B- grade). Meanwhile, the Baltimore Ravens and Jesse Minter topped the list with an A+ grade.

“My main issue with this hiring is that McCarthy is 62 and this Pittsburgh roster is in need of some serious attention and long-term vision,” Orr wrote. “McCarthy is a stable hand on the wheel who almost never has bottom-out seasons and could be a cog in maintaining or upgrading the quarterback position in Pittsburgh.

“That said, in exploring the post–Mike Tomlin era, the Steelers are also looking out at a vastly different NFL than the one they inherited when hiring Tomlin in the first place. McCarthy feels like a short-term answer to help Pittsburgh maintain respectability, with likely only one slot—offensive coordinator—containing a potential in-house successor. Again, a B- is great. It’s hard not to tie this hire with the one the Ravens made, which is undeniably a push to get younger and deeper into the next evolution of the NFL. McCarthy, by his own admission, has studied the game during his gap years but hasn’t often lived up to his self-made claims of becoming more analytical, for example.”

Many people expected the Steelers to go back to the proverbial well when it came to this coaching hire. The consensus, at least at one point, was that the Steelers would hire Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula. He’s a young, up-and-coming defensive mind, just like Mike Tomlin was when the Steelers hired him.

Instead, the Steelers went in completely the opposite direction. They got older (as Orr wrote, McCarthy is 62) and offensive-minded. The Steelers plan on contending with McCarthy, not rebuilding. However, as Orr wrote, they want McCarthy to help solve the quarterback issues in Pittsburgh. Perhaps that starts this offseason with him working with QB Will Howard, or maybe they’ll go a different direction.

Why isn’t this a better hire in Orr’s mind? McCarthy isn’t a long-term solution for the Steelers. He signed a five-year contract, and perhaps he coaches a little beyond that. No one is looking at this hire expecting him to coach nearly 20 years like Tomlin did. Plus, there isn’t an “in-house successor,” as Orr called it. Or at least, not yet. That could change if the Steelers hire New Orleans Saints quarterback coach Scott Tolzien, who is reportedly interviewing with the team on Monday, for their offensive coordinator job. Maybe that hire would boost people’s opinions, including Orr’s, even more.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Browns and Todd Monken were eighth in Orr’s ranking with a C+ grade.