​As July arrives, the countdown to football’s return begins in earnest. The Steelers are scheduled to report to Latrobe in just over three weeks, on July 28, with the first open practice set for the following day. In 42 days, they’ll take the field for their first preseason game on August 13, hosting the Green Bay Packers.
This marks a fitting pivot for Steelers football, a new era shaped by a quarterback and head coach who both spent their prominent years in Green Bay. For the 2026 season, both figures will be aiming to recapture the magic they once shared there. Rodgers is unlikely to play extensively, and McCarthy may not reveal much of the offense in a preseason matchup, but the game will offer our first glimpse at a team that has undergone its most significant overhaul in nearly twenty years. The defense could set the baseline for competitiveness, even as it reflects tweaks under a new staff; yet the team’s ceiling likely rests with McCarthy’s ability to extract more from an offense that has hovered around middling performance for the past five seasons.
Reaction to McCarthy’s hiring was mixed. On the upside, he brings substantial experience, with 18 NFL seasons as a head coach and offenses that have generally performed well. He has not always posted a losing record; in fact, he has 12 winning seasons, with playoff appearances in each, plus a Super Bowl victory—an achievement Steelers fans remember vividly. On the downside, he’ll be the third-oldest active coach this season. If he fulfills his contract, he’ll be as old as Andy Reid is today. While his offenses routinely put up strong numbers, it’s been a while since his teams have made deep playoff runs. The last time a McCarthy-led squad advanced beyond the Wild Card round was 2022 with the Cowboys, who fell in the divisional round. He missed the playoffs in his final two Packers seasons, as well as his first and last Cowboys campaigns. The most recent conference championship game featuring a McCarthy team came in 2016, a 44-21 loss to a Falcons squad that would later surrender a 28-3 Super Bowl lead.
How you view McCarthy’s hire often feels like a personal Rorschach test. I swing between optimism and doubt about the move. I’m wary about the Steelers ever winning a title under McCarthy, yet I also believe he could transform this offense—especially if he can identify and develop a young quarterback to unlock their potential.