Art Rooney II is nothing if not out of touch.

When Mike Tomlin was kind enough to do what Rooney wasn’t willing to do —step down— it gave the Steelers a chance for a perfect reset. Hire a young offensive mind as your next head coach, host the draft with tons of draft capital, and hit free agency with a good deal of salary cap space. With any luck, you give yourself a chance to be true contenders quickly, ala Seattle and Mike Macdonald or Chicago and Ben Johnson.

Rooney, however, apparently loves status quo.

Enter 62 year old Mike McCarthy as the next Pittsburgh Steelers head coach.

Oh, he’s a Pittsburgh boy, born and raised. Just like Bill Cowher. You know that factored in to Rooney’s decision. The difference is Cowher was young and energetic, ready to prove he had what it takes to be an NFL coach. McCarthy, on the other hand, is old, worn, and coming off a stint in Dallas where he looked, well, out of place to put it nicely.

I was certain Rooney would do one thing for sure, and that was stick to the Rooney family plan. Hire a young —mostly unknown— head coach that would be given the reigns for as long as they wanted them. Job security has always been one of the huge selling points of working for the Rooneys.

Nope. Wrong again.

Rooney took the safe route. The easy route. McCarthy isn’t a stiff, he’s just old and hasn’t been a big winner in a long time. As in a Mike Tomlin kind of long time. You see where this is headed. McCarthy may be larger and older than Tomlin. He may not have the clever quips Tomlin used. He may be offensive minded as opposed to Tomlin’s defensive mindset. But Mike McCarthy is Mike Tomlin(check my tweet of the week below for proof).

I keep hoping that sometime this week Nathan Scheelhaase will be announced as the offensive coordinator and head coach in waiting. Then this would make some semblance of sense. That seems more like a pipe dream based on Rooney’s own words stating he thinks McCarthy is the right man to win a championship in Pittsburgh.

Rooney will either look senile or like a soothsayer.

My guess is the former, although it is more likely to be neither. McCarthy will probably be just good enough to keep the Steelers stuck in the mushy middle.

Let me make an attempt at being a glass half full guy.

McCarthy is great at working with quarterbacks. He doesn’t outwardly seem super interested in Aaron Rodgers coming back. He does, however, like what he sees in Will Howard. Jon Gruden has stated multiple times that he thought Howard was the best quarterback in last year’s draft. McCarthy may be the perfect guy to maximize Howard’s ability. In turn, that would allow the Steelers to focus on other needed positions in the draft and free agency.

Offense is McCarthy’s baby. He had a potent offense in Green Bay as well as Dallas. In both places he had quality quarterbacks. That is the million dollar question in Pittsburgh. Does anyone have confidence in a combo of Mason Rudolph and Will Howard?

Another thing —and probably a big reason he was hired— is McCarthy worked hand in hand with Steelers GM Omar Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl in Green Bay. The offense needs more than just a quality quarterback. Pass catchers are a must add along with solidifying the left side of the offensive line. How they construct the offense will be crucial. At least the middle of the field should be back in play, so that could be fun.

Finally, the defense has three young interior linemen(Harmon, Benton, and Black), a nasty group of edge rushers, and a lockdown corner in Joey Porter. Jalen Ramsey getting a full run at safety should be good for him. Getting more from the inside linebackers, another safety, and another corner will be high on the priority list.

In other words, the Steelers are not an empty cupboard. Rooney seems averse to rebuilding, and rebuilding shouldn’t be necessary at this point. Unfortunately the most important position on the team, quarterback, is a gigantic question mark.

The reason to be glass half full is McCarthy is an offensive minded coach. Since healthy Ben Roethlisberger existed, the Steelers have run a boring, Stone Age offense. McCarthy should change that, provided he has a competent quarterback.

Another thing to look forward to is the hope McCarthy isn’t afraid to hire competent assistant coaches. My biggest complaint with Tomlin was the fact that he didn’t want to hire good assistant coaches.

Of all the names floated in this elementary coaching search, McCarthy was easily my last choice. But here we are. Of course, Ohio State hired Arthur Smith as their offensive coordinator so it is possible that we have slipped into an alternate universe.

I am certainly not in the camp that says we should have just stuck with Tomlin. Absolutely not. It was time for a change for all parties. It was, however, incumbent upon the owner to conduct a thorough search for Tomlin’s replacement. Instead, he heard McCarthy’s “Yinzer” accent and made the hire. All the things mentioned above about McCarthy are true. Still, waiting to at least meet face to face with some of the other candidates would have been prudent and a better look to the fanbase. Then again, Rooney didn’t seem to care about fan sentiment.

It is what it is. McCarthy is the new coach. As fans, we will root for him to succeed. That’s what fans do. Well, fans outside of Cleveland. Hopefully McCarthy’s offensive pedigree will give the Steelers the jolt they desperately need.

I hope McCarthy doesn’t see that Standard is the Standard sign outside the locker room and assume 9-8 is the standard. That standard left the building. Time to set a new standard, but this hire make it difficult for me to fill that glass half full.

Tweet of the Week

The Tweet of the Week perfectly reflects what I said in the column above.

 


The Weekly Shiny Penny

This was easy this week. It was also not surprising in the least.

 


A Penny For My Final Thoughts…

  • Told you Sam Darnold would have looked good in a Steelers uniform. Vikings need their collective head examined for letting him walk.
  • Amazing how special teams can affect a game. Miami lost the national championship essentially because they couldn’t block a one man punt block. The Rams essentially lost the NFC Championship because their punt returner couldn’t catch a punt.
  • Sometimes you have to take advantage of the breaks. The Patriots had break after break after break and took advantage of them all.

 

  • As fun as it is for fans to watch snow games like Denver and New England, it does seem like a shame to have a trip to the Super Bowl decided in conditions like those. Brings way too much chance/luck into it.
  • Coaches continue to play the analytics game and go for 4th downs instead of taking the three points. Coaches continue to lose because of it. And here I was told Sean Payton was a genius.
  • There are some really good college basketball teams. Two of my Final Four picks —Louisville and St. John’s— are not on that list.
  • Rick Pitino did get win 900 against his son and Xavier. Pitino is one of the best to ever walk the sideline.
  • Nebraska basketball is as much fun as Indiana football.
  • The Penguins —knocking on every piece of wood I can find— are playing fantastic hockey. A perfect example of a team that needed to move on from a coach. Crosby and Malkin have both been sipping from the Fountain of Youth.
  • I hate that our pros are going to the Olympics, forcing a three week hiatus in the middle of the NHL season.
  • The NBA continues to be hard to watch.
  • Scottie Scheffler has now played one tournament this year. Scottie Scheffler has now won one tournament this year.
  • Must the Pittsburgh Pirates always do things wrong. The latest flub is screwing Andrew McCutchen around. Sign the guy and let him have a farewell season on a decent team(we hope). More on this on my Musings of a Sports Fanatic podcast this week.
  • Shoveling snow stinks. Signed, my back.
Just my two cents…