{"id":839665,"date":"2026-03-28T20:57:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T20:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/839665\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T20:57:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T20:57:22","slug":"what-are-reasonable-expectations-for-mike-mccarthy-in-year-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/839665\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Reasonable Expectations for Mike McCarthy in Year 1?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steelers News<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"SteelersPittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy during his introductory press conference on Jan. 27, 2026. — Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report<\/a> recently outlined expectations for first-year NFL head coaches. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, Davenport expects Mike McCarthy<\/a> to lead the Steelers to a 10-7 season for the fourth consecutive year. It would also extend the Steelers\u2019 non-losing season streak to 22 years. <\/p>\n

\u201cMcCarthy inherits a team that won 10 games to become the AFC North champions in 2025. They haven\u2019t had a losing season in over two decades. The Steelers are the model of stability. The roster was bolstered with some quality additions by trading for wide receiver Michael Pittman and signing running back Rico Dowdle, safety Jaquan Brisker, and cornerback Jamel Dean,\u201d Davenport wrote. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut the Steelers have been a good but not great team for a long time, and Pittsburgh has the same problem this year that has existed since Ben Roethlisberger<\/a> retired.<\/p>\n

\u201cAaron Rodgers<\/a> or not, the Steelers don\u2019t have a quarterback that makes them a legitimate Super Bowl contender\u2014and there\u2019s no clear path to that guy in the short-term. The more things change, the more they stay the same.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"SteelersPittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy during his introductory press conference on Jan. 27, 2026. \u2014 Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now<\/p>\n

It\u2019s late March, and the Steelers still don\u2019t have an answer from quarterback Aaron Rodgers on whether he\u2019ll return to the Steelers in 2026.<\/p>\n

Rodgers said on The Pat McAfee Show earlier this month he\u2019s been in contact with general manager Omar Khan<\/a> and McCarthy, but there\u2019s no deadline or contract offer set by either side.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s conversations to be had down the line, but right now, there has not been any progressive conversations,\u201d Rodgers explained.<\/p>\n

Rodgers is just laying low now and spending time with his wife.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been spending a lot of time with my wife, we went on a ski trip, been laying low,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cI\u2019ve talked to Mike [McCarthy}, I\u2019ve talked to Omar. There\u2019s no deadline put in front of me, no contract offer to debate between. I\u2019m a free agent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodgers spent 13 years in Green Bay with McCarthy. The Steelers\u2019 coaching staff also has a slew of former Packers coaches, including offensive line coach James Campen, who has a close relationship with the four-time NFL MVP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be lying if I didn\u2019t say that was something that I enjoyed seeing,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cAll those guys getting back together. It\u2019s some of the guys that had the greatest impact on my career.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 Obviously that would be a draw if I decided we\u2019d go down that path. But again, it takes two to tango, and we\u2019ll see what happens as we get into free agency and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Steelers most likely won\u2019t be Super Bowl contenders in 2026. Like Davenport stated, until the Steelers find a long-term answer at the quarterback position, it\u2019s hard to imagine anything changing anytime soon. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned In This Article: Aaron Rodgers<\/a> Mike McCarthy<\/a> Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> Steelers<\/a> Steelers News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steelers News Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy during his introductory press conference on Jan. 27, 2026. —…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[1586,7,7866,6,520,57,2360,426,2395],"class_list":{"0":"post-839665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-mike-mccarthy","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers","16":"tag-steelers-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116308807965921524","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}