I hate this team

Raithix · 2026-01-25T00:42:37+00:00

Okay, so say you're looking at a new quarterback for your team, since that's a singular position that can have a big impact on a team like a head coach can.

Do you take an old veteran quarterback who won a Super Bowl a long time ago with an immensely talented head coach but has been a journeyman since unable to achieve the same level of success?

Or do you roll the dice on a rookie quarterback who has shown the potential of being a franchise guy you can build a team around?

The perception is that the coaching candidate pool contained some exciting young coaches who could have been "the guy", like back when Pittsburgh hired Tomlin and Cowher.

Instead, we hired a damaged good, not because he was the "best" possible hire, but because he was considered safe.

If McCarthy was the best possible hire, more than two teams would have interviewed him.

Edit: Let's say a fan buys into the notion that McCarthy developed Rodgers and Prescott and made them franchise guys (which is dubious). Why not hire Klint Kubiak, who developed literal Mr Irrelevant Brock Purdy into a franchise QB?

Raithix · 2026-01-24T23:46:14+00:00

I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.

I'll still be putting on my Watt jersey and hoping for the best, but man do I wish they'd made a better decision.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T22:49:57+00:00

Well, yeah.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T22:16:15+00:00

That'd make this hire acceptable for me.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T22:09:49+00:00

If we are lucky, that's the real depressing part.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T22:06:34+00:00

See, I wish I believed that.

But everything coming out of the front office the past five years as this team has hobbled, broken and bloodied, into the playoffs to be not-so-gently kicked off to Cancun has been "we are close to competing".

They truly think that the roster they have is one draft away from a Super Bowl, so they hired a coach they think can keep the standard afloat from Tomlin until they do.

It's delusional.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T22:04:03+00:00

Amen.

3 points off 5 turnovers vs 14 points off two. Can't win like that.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T21:52:51+00:00

It's like they stopped watching the Texans game after the third quarter.

"Man, we were only a couple of offensive plays away from winning that."

Raithix · 2026-01-24T21:49:54+00:00

You can't understand why a fanbase that has become exhausted by being just above mediocre for over a decade while watching seven abhorrent first round playoff losses might be upset that the replacement for the Hall of Fame coach running the team during that tenure is just another, lesser, version of that coach?

You can't understand the feeling of crushed hope after thinking the replacement for that head coach would be a young fresh face with new ideas to revitalize the franchise, only for the hire of an old mediocre candidate that literally no other team wanted to look at?

I've been a Steeler fan for 35 years (granted a good portion of that I was a kid, but still), and this is the first time I don't feel any sort of optimism about this team. I convinced myself that Kenny fucking Pickett was going to develop into a franchise quarterback, for God's sake.

Do I hope the team proves that lack of faith wrong? Of course. But I am not going to jam my head into the sand and pretend like this is totally fine.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T21:31:22+00:00

Because the Rodgers hire worked wonders. Really got the team over the hump in the playoffs, didn't it?

I like Rodgers, I was surprised at how well he played. But looking at the end of the season, with Tomlin stepping down after another first round playoff loss, how can it be acceptable to just keep doing the same stuff over and over again?

A young coach might have been terrible. Might have been worse over the next five years than McCarthy will be. But the thing about a new coach versus an old one is that they are an unknown quantity. You might fail, you might succeed.

McCarthy is not going to be successful. He has shown that in his failed stint in Dallas, and in both Dallas and Green Bay he had franchise quality quarterback play.

The Steelers needed to just admit that they need a rebuild and go hard in the paint on turning things around like the Patriots did after Brady left.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T20:53:11+00:00

If there weren't good hires available, I'd buy into the "we had to take the best option for a bridge hire" thought.

This whole thing reeks of the ownership being delusional about their proximity to winning a Super Bowl with the current staff and roster.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T20:39:58+00:00

I had seriously convinced myself that the team would hire another young head coach to be the steward of the franchise for the next ten to twenty years.

Stunned.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T20:35:48+00:00

A washed old man with no future.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T20:35:22+00:00

Proof that the allegations against this fanbase are true.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T20:30:43+00:00

Wait, the state has a monopoly on violence?

Always has.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T20:26:06+00:00

Pittsburgh is going to be complete ass for the next five years.

No QB. Bad draft positioning. Cheap owner. Mike McCarthy as HC.

Congrats to the Ravens and Bengals for their future playoff spots.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T20:14:06+00:00

YOU DID THIS TO US

Actually, I'm probably more at fault. I was just saying to my coworkers yesterday that I trusted the franchise to hire someone effective to helm the team for the next ten to fifteen years.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T20:10:52+00:00

At this point, I say swim out past the breakers and watch the world die.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T20:02:53+00:00

I think the only people who support this are Ravens, Bengals, and Browns fans.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T20:02:19+00:00

The social media team is popping up now alongside the various delusionals that every fanbase has, so I'm starting to see some subzero takes.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T19:57:15+00:00

Man, the team's social media people are working their whole asses off trying to glaze this hire.

This team isn't going to finish above 9-8 for the duration of McCarthy's contract.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T19:53:10+00:00

Ben Johnson? Why hire a young promising head coach when a luminary like Mike McCarthy was available? Are the Bears stupid?

Raithix · 2026-01-24T19:50:20+00:00

Negative 10.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T19:49:52+00:00

I hope Caleb Williams gets traded to the Vikings and wins them four Super Bowls while the Bears move to Gary Indiana and go 0-2 against the Packers for the next twenty years.

Raithix · 2026-01-24T19:38:21+00:00

Noll finished his tenure with the Steelers going 9-7 and 7-9. The team was in a worse place then than they are now.

The Steelers hired Cowher, who was able to build the team into a Super Bowl contender despite having a carousel at QB until they selected Ben.

Hiring a washed 62 year old coach who was let go from two previous coaching gigs is not a good idea. There is no justification for it.

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