Explaining Steelers Real Outlook on Mike McCarthy's First Season

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1:08Coach is taking over new teams in the NFL is a tale as old as time in this league. But it is a tale that included every organization except for the Pittsburgh Steelers for the past two decades. Now they are experiencing that dizzying sensation for the first time following the departure of former head coach Mike Tomlin, the arrival of new head coach Mike McCarthy, and now the Pittsburgh Steelers are going through what it's like to have a new coach taking over for his first year with the organization as McCarthy takes over his hometown squad. Now that the dust has settled just a little bit from the Mike McCarthy hiring, there is a different feeling from the fan base or on the organization and around the NFL. It started out admittedly as a sense of panic when Mike Tomlin stepped down following his 19 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But that feeling has quickly been replaced with what I would describe as a renewed feeling of optimism, a sense that maybe this team can move forward. And that feeling and sentiment has

2:09certainly increased and maybe doubled, maybe even increased exponentially since General Manager Omar Khan knocked it out of the park to begin the new league here and kick off free agency adding a few desperately needed pieces at several positions. And now with the NFL draft a month away, the roster has some holes yet to fill, but the hope is that if Omar Khan company can land a couple more playmakers, this roster will really be so good or at least good enough that Mike McCarthy will have no excuse but to have a good season in near one with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But the question I have is, is history on Mike McCarthy's side? On a recent episode of The All Steelers Talk Podcast, Noah Stracbine and I were asked, I believe we were asked, what would the record be? Or what was our projection of the Pittsburgh Steelers record in their first year under Mike McCarthy? And we both quickly said nine and eight is the goal. And when I said that, I don't know if it

3:10elicited a grown, a negative response, a positive response, I think nine and eight in year one. You've been there, settling in for an evening of TV only to waste half the night scrolling. Enter Fire TV, entertainment with zero effort required. Fire TV serves up personalized recommendations from across all your apps. Not sure what to watch, just tell Alexa Plus what you're in the mood for and she'll pull up the perfect recommendation. Problem solved, stop the scroll. Start the show. Find what you're looking for with Fire TV. Subscriptions may be required. Protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks. It is a very impressive mark for a new head coach to get whether that is a first time head coach or a veteran like Mike McCarthy who is taking over a new team. Nine and eight to me feels like a win.

4:12It feels like a success. And that question sent me down this rabbit hole. Do veteran NFL head coaches find success in their first year with a new team? I don't mean first time head coaches. I don't mean the Ben Johnson's, the Sean McRae's, the Kyle Shanahan's and what they did in year one as NFL head coaches. I went down the rabbit hole. I want to share my findings with you guys today on a new episode of Fun Tories Playbook. Thank you guys so much for dropping in. If you haven't already, please drop a like. Subscribe to us here on YouTube. We really, really appreciate all of the love and support. But let's talk about veteran head coaches. It's something that has happened quite a bit head coaches with plenty of experiences with other NFL franchises move into a new role. And then they have to see what happens. And the results are a bit of a mixed bag. We can start with Mike McCarthy himself. This is his second time being a first year head coach with a new organization after winning the Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers. He arrives in Dallas to

5:14coach the Cowboys in 2020. His first year did not go perfectly. The Dallas Cowboys finished that year six and 10, but they find 12 win seasons for three consecutive years after that under Mike McCarthy. So not the best start, but certainly not indicative of what was to come. I want to further down the rabbit hole. Let's talk a little bit about the greatest coach of all time, the boyfriend of Jordan Hudson. I'm talking about Bill Bella check, of course. And this was a guy who had previous head coaching experience before arriving as the new man in charge with the New England Patriots. And yes, he would go on to become this dominant force alongside Tom Brady. But what did he do in his first year with the New England Patriots? I'll tell you. Bring styles are at Nordstrom Rack stores now and they're up to 60% off. Stock up and save on rag and bone made well. Vince, all scenes and more of your favorites. I didn't allow no rack as the deed is. Why do we rock for the hottest still?

6:15There's so many good brands. Join the Nordy Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first and more, plus buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. Get in the game with the college branded Venmo debit card. Record team with every tap and earn up to 5% cash back with Venmo stash, a new rewards program from Venmo. No monthly fee, no minimum balance, just school pride and spending power. Get in the game and sign up for the Venmo debit card at Venmo.com slash college card. The Venmo master card is issued by the bank court bank NA select schools available Venmo stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo.me slash stash terms. Max $100 cash back per month. Not a lot. The team went five and 11. Did they win the Super Bowl one year to under Bill Bella check? Yes, they did. They did. I wouldn't at that. And I am not trying to hide that by any stretch of the imagination. But year one, this was the greatest coach of all time coming in.

7:15You wasn't at the time. I understand. But year one was tough for Bill Bella check. I went on to another coach that is very well regarded in the NFL right now. Talking about former New Orleans Saints, Super Bowl winning coach Sean Payton, current head coach of the Denver Broncos, he arrives in the mile high city a few years ago after a blockbuster trade for the Broncos to acquire the veteran head coach. He doesn't really crush it in his first year either. The Denver Broncos go eight and nine in his first year at the helm. Okay, maybe it's just a couple of sparing samples. I move on to Pete Carroll, the beloved USC former coach and a man who has plenty of NFL head coaching experience. He had two opportunities with the New York Jets and the New England Patriots, but his big break and what we all more recently know him for his time as a Seattle Seahawks head coach did not begin as a fairy tale, although they would eventually lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

8:16In year one, under Pete Carroll, the Seattle Seahawks went seven and nine. They did sneak into the playoffs. I will admit that as well and I think that is an important piece of the puzzle here in a very weak NFC West Conference or division. They won it and they lost in their divisional round game. But three coaches so far, no winning records and all three of those coaches are very, very good. The list continues. I didn't just stop there. This rabbit hole took up a lot of my time. So it's going to take up some more of yours as well. Jeff Fisher, one of the best mustaches to ever coach in the NFL. He's a man who was the long time coach of the Tennessee Titans and the Houston oilers. We all remember he moves on to the St. Louis Rams at the time in 2012 and under Fisher. The team goes seven, eight and one in that 2012 season. Two teams, one cup. The prime time stage is set for the TGL presented by Sofie Finals,

9:20Los Angeles Golf Club versus Tigers Jupiter links. Keep up, it's playoffs. Tune in Monday, March 23rd, 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN 2 and Tuesday, March 24th, 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN and on the ESPN app. Miss the playoffs. Okay, here's another one for you. Good old Tommy Kaufland, the New York Giants Super Bowl winning coach. When he first took over the New York football Giants in 2004, they went six and 10. Okay, so we got six not great examples of head coaches who had plenty of experience prior to this job that they were stepping into and finding trouble running into a little bit of struggle overcoming obstacles. Yes, it would pave the way for more success down the road in all of these examples. Year one was very rocky, but that doesn't mean that the Pittsburgh Steelers have to give up hope that does not mean that the Pittsburgh Steelers are guaranteed to have a less

10:21than ideal first year under Mike McCarthy because there are some examples of success in recent years and then there's a couple other examples that should give the Pittsburgh Steelers the ultimate hope moving into the 2026 season. An example of success here. Andy Reed, everybody's favorite coach, maybe the best mustache in the game right now since Jeff Fisher is not in the running. And we have Andy Reed, a guy who won the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles. He's now been coaching Super Bowl after Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs. He arrives in Kansas City in 2013 and he leads the Chiefs to an 11 and 5 record. They did lose in the wild card game in their first year under Reed, but we know what happened since the Kansas City Chiefs have been one of the best, the most premier organizations in the NFL and they did start off on the right foot under Andy Reed. Another example that I investigated, my investigation has brought is Tony Dungee, the former Steelers defensive back Indianapolis Colts coach. He was with the Tampa Bay Buck in years with his

11:23first head coaching gig and then he takes over the Indianapolis Colts in 2002 and they go 10 and six in year one under the Dungee, under Mr. Tony Dungee I should say. And we know that they found even more success during his coaching 10-year Indian Indianapolis. So there's two great examples and then there's two more that I want to end on here today that are the ultimate examples to emulate. And I think that Pittsburgh Steelers have these two specific cases in mind with the addition of Mike McCarthy and the way that they have sort of gone about roster construction heading into the 2026 season. Of course I'm talking about two Super Bowl coaches who took over teams in an year one led those organizations to a Super Bowl victory. There's only been four NFL head coaches ever whether they were first time head coaches or it was a first year with a new organization who have led a team to a Super Bowl victory. Two of them have happened since the year 2000. The first one was in 2002. John Gruden Will Howard's number one fan takes over the Tampa

12:27Bay Buccaneers. He leads that team to a Super Bowl championship and then 13 years later a little old coach might not know him. You might know him. Gary Tubiak is hired as the Denver Broncos head coach in 2015 and within aging Peyton Manning and one of the best defenses of the modern era, they too lift the Vince Lombardi trophy as a Super Bowl winners in 2015. I think those two examples are what Omar Khan aren't only the second and the management and leadership of the Pittsburgh Steelers has in mind with the addition of Mike McCarthy with these moves to add key pieces like Jamel Dean at cornerback Michael Pittman Jr. Wide receiver Rico Dowdall at running back. I think the Pittsburgh Steelers think that they can emulate the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers the 2015 Denver Broncos, follow in the footsteps of Andy Reed and Tony Dungie's first year with their new organizations and hopefully totally avoid the pitfalls of those six

13:30other coaches who had a rough go in year one with their new organizations. But the Pittsburgh Steelers are hoping they buck the trend and that Mike McCarthy has an excellent year one in 2026 in Pittsburgh. The pieces are beginning to fall into place for that to happen and now we just kind of have to wait and see an eye for one and am excited to cover it and to talk about it with you guys all here in Puntory's Playbook and all Steelers talk. And I think that's going to do it for me here is history on Mike McCarthy's side. The answer maybe and let's see what happens. But thank you guys so much for jumping on from the episode of Puntory's Playbook. If you haven't, please drop a like here, subscribe to us here on YouTube, about to hit 70,000 subscribers on YouTube. Thanks to you guys, we appreciate it greatly. You can find us anywhere. You get your podcast and you can find all of our written work and coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers over at SI.com slash NFL slash Steelers. I'll be back later this week. We'll be back every day this week with the All Steelers Talk flagship program. But until I see you guys next, do me a favor, be good to yourselves, be good to others and I will see you in soon. Peace.

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