The Pomp And Joe Show
Is Mike McCarthy a real candidate for the Steelers head coaching job?
20 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What makes Mike McCarthy a strong candidate for the Steelers head coaching job?
I'm sensing sabotage in my midst. There's no Bob here, which has nothing to do with that. Although, why is Bob not here? It's a Tuesday. Limits?
Maybe he's at the hypothetical Tomlin news conference today. I guess.
I thought that was the excuse on Tuesdays. Well, that was legitimate because he hosted the Tomlin News Conference. He was the emcee. And if you need an emcee out there, well, Larry Richard or Bob Pompeiani is your guy. Is there an event in Pittsburgh that's not emceed by one of those two men? Honestly, probably not. So why isn't he here then? I don't know. Do we know he wasn't going to be here?
He's never been here on Tuesdays, typically. Because of that? There is no Tomlin. Tomlin's not here anymore. Well, in the summer, he's typically not here on Tuesdays either. I haven't even done a summer with Bob, have I? We're both off the whole summer. That's true. Then in the meantime, Limits, you're extremely distracted today. Unbelievably distracted. You're playing old music for the show.
I heard you last night. I heard you last night. You had a good show on, even though you didn't show up to produce this show. You had your own show. You weren't here either. Yeah, I know. I'm off.
You took the day off and I took the day off.
No, you didn't. You worked last night. So you worked last night. So I worked and you did it.
You're trying to bash me for working.
No, I'm not bashing you for working. I'm saying that you're starting to rise in the ranks. You're seeing a little crack. Oh, stop it. A little crack in the door. And now with this show, there's sabotage in my midst. And I'll tell you why.
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Chapter 2: How did Omar Khan's relationship with Mike McCarthy influence the coaching search?
With one of the songs that just appears on our rotators here in the Rolodex.
Thank you for confirming that. One of the songs that just appears on the Rolodex. A lot of thought you put into that. I try to spice it up for you. And then I asked you for a listing so I can have it in front of me. And I don't ask you for much. I hardly ask you for anything. I ask you sometimes for a clip. I said, can you print out a list of the coaching openings and who's been hired?
And you didn't, but you texted me one. I did. And you didn't include Robert Sala. And you didn't include Robert Sala for the Titans. You have that as a blank. So you wanted me to go on the air and start reading these and be wrong about it. Well, that's why you're the savvy old newshound. There's sabotage in my midst. I can feel it.
I feel it all over right now. Limits. Maybe the excuse is that your friend Limits is a little bit under the weather over the last couple of days, and that's why I didn't produce the show yesterday. But you did your own show at 6. You couldn't have been that much under the weather. If I did two shows, that would have been a lot. I would have been completely gassed by the evening show.
All right. Let's get started here in spite of all this. By the way, I have quiche for lunch. Is that any kind of party foul? Do you like quiche? I've never eaten quiche. Bacon? It's just, I mean, it's pastry. It's cheese souffle. You've eaten cheese souffle, haven't you? I don't know. No, you don't know if you've eaten it?
I guess not, then. I'm excited for Tim's Corner Market subs today. Yeah, that will be fun. That's what I'm looking forward to.
Let's talk about Steelers coaches' limits. This is getting ridiculous in here. All right. What are we supposed to make of Mike McCarthy being reunited with Aaron Rodgers, potentially? I heard the morning show talking about this for a little while. Is this is this for real? Could this actually happen? I mean, first of all, before we get to anything else.
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Chapter 3: Why do the Steelers believe they have been in contention for nearly a decade?
I went back to research this this morning and found headlines like this one from CBS Sports dot com. Aaron Rodgers apparently had toxic 13 year relationship with Mike McCarthy when McCarthy was coaching. And it goes back to the day he was drafted.
When McCarthy was working for the Niners, which, of course, is Aaron's hometown, basically, and it says was influential in them taking Alex Smith over Rodgers. And that began their relationship. Now it went to some very good places. And I don't know, sometimes you can't believe what you read. I get it limits, but it didn't seem like that was a marriage made in heaven.
And it seemed to end poorly. And it seemed that Rogers was the guy who kind of wanted McCarthy out. Am I wrong about that? I don't think you are. No, that's the way that I understood it. So there's going to be reunion and everything's good. And we're just going to run it back. Like nothing happened and like neither guy left Green Bay? It's just going to be Green Bay 2.0 here?
Back to the Super Bowl days? On one hand, I reject this as ludicrous. On the other, we have Tom Pelissero saying that Mike McCarthy is a realistic candidate here. Like they really like him. And we have others saying that the Steelers have definite interest in Aaron Rodgers. Most importantly, we have Art basically saying, why would you waste a year of your life not being in, quote, contention?
Now, my idea and Art's idea of being, quote, in contention are very, very different. The teams that are playing this weekend are, by any reasonable definition, in contention. They're in the conference title games. The teams that lost this past weekend, they were pretty much in contention, especially if they played a competitive game. Right?
I mean, when you say we were in contention every year with Mike, the obvious implication from Art is in contention for championships. That's the obvious implication there. So these teams that lost, like the Bears and Bills were legitimately in contention.
They can leave this season telling their fans and telling themselves, even if they fire their coach when they should have fired their GM in Buffalo. Yeah, we had a team that legitimately was contending for a Super Bowl. We were. We were right there. They can say that. Teams that lost in the wildcard round have a much tougher time saying that.
But at least if you were really competitive in that round, you might be able to say it. Maybe. I mean, Jacksonville can leave this season saying, man, we were this close to maybe some big things this year. We were. We lost to Josh Allen in the end. But we win that game. We're really close. Maybe they're fooling themselves. Maybe they're not.
But if their owner goes and tells their fan base we were, quote, in contention, I think he has probably a defensible point. If you get blown out of the wild card round, you were never in contention. Again, by any reasonable definition, you were not in contention.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of a potential McCarthy-Rodgers reunion in Pittsburgh?
That's just a fact. And yet. And yet the team owner, team president, whatever you want to call art, seems to believe they were and they are. To me, that's that's delusional thinking. But knowing that he thinks that way in the context of Rodgers and McCarthy, hell yes, I can see this happening. Art doesn't want to, quote, waste a year resetting or rebuilding or just taking a step back.
This is the perfect time. You have a new coach coming in. You don't have a quarterback. You have aging stars. Who knows? Maybe you could still go nine and eight. You know, I mean, that's not unheard of. You could still go nine and eight and get maybe get blown out of a wild card game and fool yourself into thinking you were in contention.
It's not that hard, by the way, to to get in and get blown out. 40 percent of the teams get in. And I know the Steelers are one of the only teams to get in the last three years, the last four years. I don't know. I don't know what the stat is.
But to me, if you get in and you get destroyed in the first round, you're way closer to the Jets and Cardinals of the world than you are to the four teams playing this coming weekend. That's my opinion. I wonder if Art thinks, and excuse me for a moment, Limits, as I take a sip of hot water. My throat is a little dry. Okay.
Your hands get dry during this weather. My hands are like all red right around my knuckles.
Yes, I woke up cream on it. I woke up basically a frozen cadaver. I slept on the couch last night because I stayed up watching the Warriors till like one. So I didn't want to wake up anybody upstairs. And the TV room is set off. It's an addition to the house. And I woke up basically frozen. Like Justin Fields when Artie threw him in for that big pass in the Browns game last year.
Hadn't thrown a pass in a month. Thought it was a great idea. And Tomlin... Tomlin gave him the go ahead. Go ahead, Justin. Go in, even though you're frozen and haven't thrown a pass in literally a month. Let's have you throw the biggest pass of the game against the Browns. That was me this morning. My car said eight degrees.
Mine said seven. And I could see my breath and I was legitimately shivering in my car as I felt like I was a participant in the ice ball.
Yeah, I've grown to hate cold weather more than I can even describe to you. And what I wouldn't give just to wake up in Florida or Arizona or Hawaii today limits. Should we join them? Could I do the show remotely? Do you think?
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Chapter 5: How have the Steelers' recent performance statistics affected their coaching decisions?
Probably. Would they allow that? You have a lot of pull as the Savile News Hound, so I think you could. What if Ron and I did an old man's show from Florida from 10 to 2? That would be unbelievable, actually. That would be a great show. And you would never get in here, Limits. You'd have to go for the PM or AM show. You'd have to sabotage Crowley instead. That could never happen. No. No.
You and Harry Callas with a palace coup? A palace coup? A palace callous? You guys could do. Where was I? Oh, yes. The wasted years for art. Why would you waste a year of your life? I'm curious. Does Art think that 2003 was a wasted year for the Steelers' limits? Do you think he thinks that was a wasted year of everybody's lives? Because that was the year that begat Ben, right?
And the Steelers went 6-10 that year. And Ben is the person most responsible for whatever it is, a 22-year non-losing streak. Non-losing streak, which is certainly different from what's happened in the playoffs because it's a losing streak in the playoffs of seven straight games in which the Steelers have been blown out by an average of more than two touchdowns per game.
So I guess that was a wasted year, 2003, even though they got Ben. And I wonder if Art also thinks that 19, let's see here. Was it 1970? What year did they draft Terry Bradshaw? I think it was 70. So 69 was a wasted year at one in 13, even though Chuck Knoll walked in and completely reset the culture and they got the quarterback who would lead them to four Super Bowl wins. Correct.
I guess that was a wasted year. Wasted year. Does he think New England had a couple wasted years there, like the one where they got Drake May? They're still playing. Did you notice? Yes. Wasted. Yeah. They wasted those years. Somebody should knock on Art's door and tell him the records of his team for the last five years, including the playoff blowouts. 10-8, 10-8, 10-8, 9-8, 9-7-1.
If that's in contention, when you are 10-8, 10-8, 10-8, 9-8, 9-7-1, and have a heavily minus point differential and get destroyed in the first round of the playoffs almost every year if you make the playoffs, if that's in contention limits, then I am Harry Callas. I think we're dealing here with a team president who just doesn't have a grasp on reality right now. Do you agree with that?
Yeah, I feel like... Football reality. He's a very nice man.
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Chapter 6: What does Art Rooney II mean by 'not wasting a year' in the coaching process?
But I think he's... Go ahead. Go ahead. I'm sorry I interrupted you.
Well, I just feel like his expectations have been lowered. And he's soured on what the Steeler brand should be. Because I don't think Dan would have ever accepted this. You know? Maybe that's just Art's persona. He's a different person than Dan. We all know. I don't know what it is. But for whatever reason... The fact that he's just content with what they have right now and maybe afraid.
He was afraid to further move on from Mike. Like if it's truly led to believe, which I do believe, that Mike stepped down on his own. He wasn't pushed out by Art. Art just wants to keep going with the status quo and is afraid of a big wholesale change for the fear that they could take a huge step back and maybe that they won't be able to figure it out to get back up to the top.
So he'd rather be middling right around the middle where they're in contention instead of fall all the way back down and risk not getting back to where they were.
Well, he was forced to face that fear. And you're right. He wouldn't have faced it. And I think he has been afraid for a long time to make what a lot of us thought was an obvious change. And I waited longer than most. I thought the obvious time was after last year's playoff debacle against Baltimore. And by the way, since 2017, so 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
In these last nine seasons, there's been one outlier. And that was 2020, which was a very weird year, however you look at it. And that was a year in which the Steelers went 12-4. That's their one outlier record. But they crumbled down the stretch and sustained maybe the most embarrassing home playoff loss in team history.
Well, if it wasn't two weeks ago when the Browns came in here and put 48 on them. So I just read off the records of the last four years. Let's just keep going. You throw in the 12 and these are including playoff games. 10-8, 10-8, 10-8, 9-8, 9-7-1, 12-4 with a historical crumbling, 8-8, 9-6-1, missed the playoffs both those years.
How is that defined by any reasonable, unbiased person as in contention? I don't get it. However, forget all that. Art doesn't want to waste a year of his life. I think that Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers could probably go 10 and 8 and get blown out of a wild card game. I really do. 412-928-9370. 928-9370. That's the news of the day.
That and Brian Flores apparently is here for an in-person interview. I don't hate that idea. I like him. I was at a volleyball tournament this weekend near Philly where some Steelers fans were there, and they didn't particularly like the idea. I think Flores has changed a little bit since his Miami days. I don't think his Miami days were that bad.
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Chapter 7: How does the current Steelers coaching situation compare to past coaching transitions?
I think he probably had a quarterback he didn't want thrust upon him. I think he found out, or maybe he did want him, but found out real early into his tenure as a defensive coordinator would. Because it's their job to figure out quarterbacks. I think he found out real early, oh my God, this guy is not going to take me where I want to go in my head coaching career. This guy is not for real.
He's not good enough. And yet he had some okay records in Miami. Well, he was only there for what, three years limits, I think? Right. I like his demeanor. I love his defenses. I think his ones in Minnesota have been fabulous this year. They didn't have an offense, which kind of hampers you on defense. And yet they were still pretty respectable.
I'm sure somebody can throw some numbers up, but if you look at the entire situation in Minnesota, I don't think it was bad defensively at all. And I think at times in Flores' tenure, it's been really, really good. He went into Miami, went 5-11 the first year, and then he went 19-14 the second two years. I don't think that's a terrible resume either.
Does it feel to me like a grand slam if they were to hire Flores? No, but it feels like a pretty good hire if they were to do that. McCarthy and Rodgers running it back, on the other hand, just doesn't seem right. attractive to me. How about you? At 412-928-9370, let's get this conversation started. It still feels very surreal to be talking about it.
I saw where Tomlin was at his daughter's gymnastics meet, I think. I forget where she goes to school, but it was a nice photo of a dad rooting on his daughter. It was nice. And I hope for him, Well, I hope for him that that he has peace and happiness in whatever this is a step away. Is it going to be a retirement? I don't know.
I feel like a lot of these guys with Bill Cower being the main example that I can think of Brian Billick, another one. I think a lot of these guys, once they step out of it, realize what they were missing. And that you can have a real life outside of this and they get paid very well. So don't take this the wrong way, but it's just a it's a maniacal, obsessive existence as a coach. It really is.
Very few of them can can achieve, I think, any real balance in their lives. It's very difficult once they get out. And they realize there's more to it, especially when they realize, like in Cowher's case and Billick's probably, but more so in Cowher's, my God, I can make all this money and not have to put up with all that and still have a life with actual people in it.
Maybe it's time to never go back. So once somebody steps out, I'm always curious about that. But I think the coaching addiction, and I do believe it's an addiction, just grabs a lot of them again and says, come back, come back, come back. And they can't let it go. It'll be interesting to see with Tomlin how that goes. Because, man, if he was inclined to come back.
One of the greatest coaching jobs in NFL history is on the table right now. In spite of Brandon being the GM in Buffalo, you walk into Buffalo, you have a guy in Josh Allen, Superman, still in his prime. I mean, it's one of the greatest coaching openings there has ever been. Right up there with when Bill Cower resigned back in 2006 or 2007, whatever it was, 2006, I guess.
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Chapter 8: What are the potential challenges for a new coach stepping into the Steelers organization?
Early 2007, if you want to be technical. Big Ben in his prime. That's what Tomlin walked into. By the way, Limits. Compare the situation the new Steelers coach walks into compared to what Tomlin did. It's a little bit different, wouldn't you say?
Tomlin walked in to a great defensive coordinator, a great defense, like legitimately a Super Bowl defense, and most importantly, a Hall of Fame quarterback just in his prime. great assisting coaches all over the place, franchise quarterback still young, and a great defense. Yes, the Steelers went 8-8 the year before.
I think that might have had a little something to do with Ben nearly dying in a motorcycle accident, having an appendectomy right before the opener, and then getting a concussion early in the season. Silly me. And it was the only year that he threw more interceptions than touchdowns. I know that's a reach, but I think that might have been why they went 8-8.
Cowher has said it, and it's true, and it's really not a slight on Tomlin at all. But Tomlin walked into a Super Bowl situation, and he capitalized. And I would never take away one thing from what he did early in his tenure. Point being, now look. Now look at what the next guy's walking into. Right? He's walking into no assistant coaches.
And if you do have one, it's Artie Smith, for God's sakes. But he's not going to be here. So you're not walking into Dick LeBeau. And was it Bruce Arians then? Or did Tomlin promote him? I can't remember in the moment. But you have guys like John Mitchell, Keith Butler as your linebacker. I mean, you had a staff, a serious staff back then. So now you're walking into Mason Rudolph and Will Howard.
an aging, overrated, underachieving defense, and really no staff to speak of whatsoever. It's just a little different than what Tomlin walked into. Anyway, we still have several coaching openings here. I would put this one right behind, well, I put it behind Buffalo, Baltimore for obvious reasons. I put it behind the Raiders because if I can have the first pick, I'd love to have the first pick.
That trumps everything. But ahead of the Titans, Browns. No, Titans hired Sala. See, I already made a mistake based on your erroneous text limits. I put it ahead of the Browns and the Cardinals. And that's about it right now. Your thoughts on any and all of this. Unbelievably, we're doing a coaching search in Pittsburgh. This is incredible. Incurrent, some might say.
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