What are Reasonable Expectations for Mike McCarthy in year one with the Steelers?

If Rodgers returns, they should be contending to win the division.

 

A playoff win.

 

Some will say if he doesn’t he sucks
But
He got 9 yrs to try
And do what the other
Mike
Couldn’t do

 

9-8. Possible WC playoff loss. Won’t be surprised if they go 7-10 though. Seems to be a rudderless ship.

 

I think based on the mentality of the FO and moves made even with decrepit AR at QB this team should be around .500

Im at least excited to watch 21st century offense hopefully.

I would be really happy if AR retired and we went with Howard to see if there’s anything there but that won’t happen. We will bring in Cousins or some other washed up Vet.

 

Improved O Line and WR corps and offensive playcalling (hopefully). One year older and bit more decrepit Qb.

9-8 to 11-6, one playoff win at most

 

this. And maybe see what Howard can do.

 

He’s inheriting a team that won 10 games and the division. One can argue that the roster improved and will get stronger with 12 draft picks to play with. Anything less than playoff will be a disappointment

 

There is going to be a learning curve. There will be a completely new offensive system for everyone to learn, and a new defensive system where we don't really know how much Graham will change things or add to what they currently run. Either way, it will be a big adjustment at the very least.

The chances of the entire team hitting on all cylinders early in the year is pretty remote, but I would hope that by mid-season they will be operating at a more consistent higher level of play. And that's if Rodgers is the guy behind center.

I don't think it's fair to expect a head coach to come in and change everything on both sides of the ball and expect greatness out of the gate. He also has to try to develop a young quarterback or two that may be the future of the franchise. That likely won't happen overnight.

I think you have to give Mike McCarthy two full seasons just to determine if he's on the right track.

 

I don't care at this point and won't blame McCarthy for a losing season if it happens. It's gonna take a few drafts and free agency acquisitions to get the Steelers back to elite and competing for the Super Bowl. I don't care or give a crap about 9-10 wins and quick playoff exit. So freakin' burnt out with that sh!t.

 

For me, the expectation is a minimum of a wildcard spot and playing a COMPETITIVE Playoff game, something we haven't done in nearly a decade. That is, if we're putting Rodgers back out there again.

If we go with a rookie or a lesser vet, then I think the expectations are more relaxed and you're really looking for improvements in scheme, aggressiveness, evidence of the team addressing weaknesses and setting us up for the future.

 

It will be great just to have a chance to hopefully see something new and hopefully more innovative.

I'll be honest. I have no idea how this is going to go. I suspect that the offense will be better. I also really like Graham, and I think if McCarthy lets him control that side of the ball and he trusts his vision of what the defense can be, the defense can be very good.

We just have no idea what's going to happen at the quarterback position. I just don't want to have a 40-year-old as a quarterback anymore. I can live with a one-year mentorship by Rodgers to help teach the new offense and help prepare the young quarterbacks for taking over, but it better not go beyond that. I think we are all ready for at least trying to find the next young quarterback, or make a blockbuster trade for a really good, established one with plenty of prime left.

 

a much more productive offense where we don’t have to flip to page 3 to find success in the stats.

oh, and scoring more than 6 points in must win games.

 

12-5

 

0-17

 

Honestly, I expect a total cluster.

A horrendously inefficient offense as the ancient QB struggles to execute the offense. Lots of back shoulder fades as desperation heaves on third and long.

Not so sure on defense, too many question marks. Could be much better? Could be worse.

I do think we will see a mentally less resilient team. Meaning, I do not see the MM Steelers winning as many one score games. I do not see as many dogged late comebacks. The MM era Packers were more of a collapse than comeback kind of crew.

I have not peaked at the schedule. That will have an impact. If they play a bunch of 2025 playoff teams with good defenses, then they will lose a fair number of games. If they mostly play teams from the muddle in the middle that they are part of...who knows?

 

THAAAAaaats the spirit!

 

I think coaches in their 1st year with a team tends to be not great.

His first year with Dallas was 6-10. Worth noting that Dak only played 5 games that year. So Andy Dalton was the main starter.

Here's the question...will our starter at QB be better or worse than Andy Dalton? In 11 games (9 starts), he had 2170 yards, 14 TDs (4.2 td%), and 8 picks.

Pro-rated to 17 games, that's 3350 yards, 21-22 TDs, and 12-13 INTs.

Rodgers last year had 3322 yards, 24 TDs, and 7 picks in 16 games. So it seems like Rodgers is probably better now than Dalton was then. But not by a ton.

If we don't get Rodgers to play for us this year, then I think we'll have a worse QB situation than Dallas had in 2020.

 

Tank for Arch!!!

 

0-17

 

Shhhhh.....the coaches are better.....everyone in the building is smarter.....all is well.....winning is assured.....offensive genius at work....defensive mastermind in control....offensive line is fixed.....

 

If they're healthy, which team would you expect us to be competitive against in a WC game? Every season's different, but I don't think we'd be favored against any of these teams. And the list here is longer than the number of teams that make the dance.

KC (Mahomes)
BUF (Allen)
BAL (Jackson)
CIN (Burrow)
HOU (Stroud)
DEN (Nix)
NE (Maye)
LAC (Herbert)
JAX (Lawrence)

I think there are some of these teams where we could play a close game with (without needing something like DTD(s)).

But we're going to go through a lot of changes this year. Not just on offense, but probably a big shift on D too.

I'm excited because we seem to be moving on from the only one WR offense. But I think we still don't really have any starts on the offensive side of the ball. But I think we're shaping up to have probably 3 or 4 pretty good skill players on the field at the same time. Which is maybe a good recipe for a smart vet like Rodgers who's going to be trying to get rid of the ball as fast as possible again. IMO the left side of the line is a pretty big question mark, but there's still the draft to go and we did get surprisingly good play from Cook last season.

And do we have a star player on D? I guess TJ is still a star, but it's because of past performance not recent value. Maybe Porter is on the verge of becoming a star? But I think he'll be more of a very solid guy who continues to be consistent, but doesn't break games open. Hopefully we actually get upgraded performance at the other CB spots (that it's not just smoke like last offseason). If that happens, maybe TJ can be a game wrecker again. Or maybe AH continues to be the leading sack producer but gets bigger numbers than last year.

Tomlin certainly had his failings, but I think he was good at getting a mediocre team to (or almost to) the playoffs by making games ugly and capitalizing on the mistakes other good but not great teams would make.

When he was first hired, I think I heard that McCarthy didn't have the issue that Tomlin had of losing to teams below 0.500. But also that he was worse against teams above 0.500. I don't think that bodes well for the idea that we are going to take an underdog team into the playoffs and do better than we did before.

Ideally, we knock this draft out of the park and the talent on the team gets a lot better.

 

I think that Tomlin getting this team to will itself in (or just out) of the playoffs despite not great talent has people over-estimating our chances of success this year.

I don't think this is Chucky coming in to replace Dungy. We're not as good as that team was IMO.

I really, really hope to be proven wrong.