​The Pittsburgh Steelers were sick of winning regular season games only to fall flat in the postseason. Thus, out went long-tenured head coach Mike Tomlin, with a litany of winning records and zero Super Bowl appearances since 2010. In came Mike McCarthy, with a litany of winning records and… zero Super Bowl appearances since 2010.Pittsburgh added some receiving help to boost a soon-to-be 43-year-old Aaron Rodgers and landed a 1,000-yard rusher in free agency. But an aging defense raises questions about whether the Steelers will need Rodgers to turn back time in order to lift his team back to the top of the AFC North. Let’s look at some of the key factors that could either extend the franchise’s streak of non-losing seasons to two decades or begin an earnest rebuild.Key addition: WR Michael Pittman Jr.What do you get a quarterback who needs to get the ball out as quickly as possible to avoid getting his 42-year-old bones crushed into dust? How about a high volume safety valve who excels at creating space in the short range? Aaron Rodgers hit career lows in both time to throw (2.59 seconds, lowest in the NFL among starters) and average target distance (5.9 yards, ditto). Mike McCarthy’s arrival won’t fix that; Rodgers’ mobility is a shell of what it once was and he, understandably, has no interest in taking big hits and risking drive-stalling sacks.Enter Pittman, whose 3.0 yards of separation per target last season led all Colts wideouts. Some of that was thanks to the space Alec Pierce created downfield, but Pittsburgh has its own deep ball burner in DK Metcalf, who had an uncharacteristically unproductive season last year. Pittman had a +5.7 percent catch rate over expected and hauled in more than 81 percent of his targets that came fewer than 10 yards downfield. His above average run-after-catch skills should further bolster the final (?) year of the Rodgers experiment.Key departure: HC Mike TomlinTomlin ruled the sideline at the former Heinz Field for 19 years. He recorded a losing record in zero of them. His ability to keep Pittsburgh in playoff contention but, after 2016, out of Super Bowl contention eventually limited the franchise’s rebuild options. So, in his place comes… a head coach who wins a ton of regular season games and falls apart in the postseason.Mike McCarthy’s return to the sidelines leaves him exactly as far removed from his last Super Bowl appearance as Tomlin. He’s 6-8 since hoisting the Vince Lombardi trophy and his last postseason game saw him get thoroughly ruined by the Packers, becoming the only team in NFL history to lose to a No. 7 seed in the process. This is all to say things have changed for the Steelers, but may look remarkably similar once the season begins.Potential 2026 breakout player: TE Darnell WashingtonAaron Rodgers needs a game plan in which he gets the ball out quickly to avoid wear and tear on a soon-to-be 43-year-old body. While Pittsburgh added a key possession receiver in Michael Pittman Jr. th