The Pittsburgh Steelers are turning the page in 2026 with Mike McCarthy taking over as head coach, and the hope in Pittsburgh is simple: bring home a Super Bowl. If that takes a little time, though, the first milestone would be a playoff win - something the franchise has gone nine years without.
That drought all came during Mike Tomlin’s run, which ended after 19 seasons. By the end, the noise around the team had grown loud, with fans even chanting for Tomlin to be fired before he walked away after the season.
Former Steelers Pro Bowl cornerback Joe Haden thinks he has a pretty clear read on what may have been missing.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Deebo and Joe Podcast with co-host James Harrison, Haden pointed to accountability as the issue he felt needed a reset.
"When I got to Pittsburgh, it was years and years into Coach Tomlin being there, and the one thing I could where you needed a new voice [was] the accountability," Haden said. "Everything needs to be tight.
There was a looseness that was going around. That looseness is a reaon where errors come in...
If star players were doing certain things, you just gotta nip it in the bud.
"Things like meetings, late stuff... When the vet leeway is getting to a point where it turns almost blatant disrespect to where your team is seeing studd like, 'We can't be moving like this as a team, vet aside.'
When you get a new coach in there, he's not rocking. You set a standard from the T.J.
Watts to the Ben Roethlisbergers to anybody on the team where there's no leeway for nobody."
Haden’s comments fit with a broader conversation around the Steelers in recent years, as communication and accountability issues have been part of the discussion for one reason or another. By the end of Tomlin’s tenure, both sides of the ball were struggling to click, and the team’s character was becoming part of the problem.
Pittsburgh has spent the last two offseasons trying to change that tone, moving on from players such as George Pickens and Diontae Johnson while bringing in DK Metcalf, Jalen Ramsey and others.
Maybe that’s why Haden believes a new voice was necessary. Early signs suggest McCarthy is bringing that kind of edge, with his preparation in practice and players like Watt acknowledging the work ramping up during OTAs and minicamp.
The real test comes once the season starts. If that new standard carries over, the Steelers believe their talent can push them to another level.
In Other News...
Steelers Fans Still Havent Forgotten What That 2014 Draft Couldve Been
There was a time when the Steelers 2014 draft class looked like it could reshape the franchise for years. Nine players came out of that haul, and the names that still jump off the page are Ryan Shazier, Stephon Tuitt and Martavis Bryant, a trio that gave Pittsburgh reason to believe it had found a core worth building around.
Instead, the conversation around that class has always come back to what might have been. Shazier and Tuitt flashed the kind of talent that can tilt a defense, but their careers were cut short far too soon, leaving Steelers fans to wonder how different the teams path might have been if that group had stayed intact and reached its ceiling. [Read more 🡒]
Steelers May Be Cornered Into One Win Now Quarterback Path
The NFLs offseason calendar is getting a little tighter, and that could matter a lot in Pittsburgh. Starting in the 2027 offseason, the legal tampering period will open one day after the Combine ends, which means teams will have less breathing room to sort out their quarterback plans before the market starts moving. For the Steelers, that kind of timing change only adds pressure to get clarity quickly on a position that has already loomed over the franchises planning.
Baker Mayfield is the veteran name that keeps surfacing as the kind of option that could let Pittsburgh stay competitive right away. He brings starting experience and the sort of immediate credibility teams look for when they want a quarterback who can step in without a long runway, and he just turned 31, which puts him in the range of a shorter-term answer rather than a franchise reset. If the Steelers are trying to avoid a prolonged search, that sort of path is going to be hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]