Terry Bradshaw didn’t waste any time pretending to be impartial on FOX’s Week 1 pregame show.
When the panel on FOX NFL Sunday was asked which new head coach he was most eager to watch, Bradshaw went straight to his own roots. “I’m biased,” he said before naming Mike McCarthy.
That answer fit the moment in Pittsburgh. The Steelers moved on from Mike Tomlin and brought in McCarthy, the former Packers and Cowboys head coach, and he’s now back alongside Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback he won a Super Bowl with in Green Bay. For Bradshaw, that reunion was the part worth circling.
Curt Menefee hosted the noon ET show with Howie Long, Michael Strahan, Rob Gronkowski and Jay Glazer on the set. Around the league, there were plenty of fresh faces in new places, with coaches such as John Harbaugh in New York and Todd Monken in Cleveland. Even with all of that movement, Bradshaw still made the Steelers his choice.
He made his case plainly: Pittsburgh needed the change, and McCarthy and Rodgers already know how to operate together. That connection, he said, is the storyline he wants to follow all season.
Bradshaw’s loyalty to Pittsburgh wasn’t exactly subtle. He is 78 and still a fixture on the FOX desk more than 30 years into the job.
Jimmy Johnson stepped away last year, and Bradshaw has previously pushed back on retirement, saying sitting still would age him. Sunday was another example of how he uses that platform - not to hide his lean, but to wear it.
The clip landed because he didn’t dance around it. Asked for the most exciting new coach, he didn’t reach for a safer answer. He chose the man taking over in black and gold.
That doesn’t mean he’ll give McCarthy a free pass all year. Bradshaw has been willing to rip the Steelers before if he thinks they deserve it.
But on opening Sunday, he had no interest in balancing the scales. He told viewers why he was locked in, then named the coach.
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