Steelers' Mike McCarthy Named Dark Horse for NFL's Biggest Award

One NFL analyst believes Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy has a chance to make a huge statement in his first year with his hometown team.

While highlighting long-shot candidates for each of the league's major awards in 2026, NFL.com's Bucky Brooks chose McCarthy for Coach of the Year.

“This underappreciated, Super Bowl-winning head coach has a chance to cement his legacy with a strong run in Pittsburgh,” Brooks wrote. “McCarthy takes over a longtime winner that had plateaued under Mike Tomlin, but the roster still features enough veteran playmakers to make a jump from good to great under new direction. If the veteran coach can get Aaron Rodgers to play like a top-half quarterback in a system that minimizes his deficiencies as a 42-year-old — while simultaneously prodding defensive coordinator Patrick Graham to help the vaunted defense regain its swagger and suffocating style — the Steelers will make plenty of noise as contenders. Inherently, McCarthy could win his first Coach of the Year award.”

May 28, 2026; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy observes OTA drills at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

What are McCarthy's Chances of Actually Winning COTY?

McCarthy, despite owning a .608 win percentage with 11 double-digit win campaigns, a Super Bowl victory and 12 trips to the playoffs, has never won a COTY award over his 18-year career in the NFL.

Those honors really go to the coach who leads his team to the league's best record, however, and is more so handed out based on performance relative to expectations, circumstances or talent on a roster.

With the benefit of coaching Aaron Rodgers for his entire tenure from 2006 to 2018 before leading a Dallas Cowboys squad that was brimming with talent for a majority of his tenure there from 2020 to 2024, McCarthy never quite went above and beyond outside of his aforementioned Super Bowl title run in 2010 that culminated in a victory over the Steelers.

Voting takes place before the playoffs begin, however, which is undeniably part of the reason why McCarthy didn't win the award that year.

As someone who garnered somewhat of a reputation for doing less with more in Green Bay and Dallas, McCarthy has a real shot at changing the narrative surrounding him in Pittsburgh.

The Steelers' roster is as talented as it has been in recent years, but the team is still overlooked when it comes to conversations surrounding the contenders league-wide and in the AFC.

Pittsburgh's shortcomings in the playoffs under Mike Tomlin over the last decade or so coupled with a general feeling of mediocrity surrounding the franchise during that span has certainly contributed to them being disregarded.

If McCarthy and Rodgers can work some magic now that they've reunited while the latter has more skill position talent at his disposal than he did in 2025, the Steelers could overdeliver assuming the defense does its part under new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.

McCarthy has the narrative on his side as one of the more successful head coaches of the 21st century who is returning home for what might be his last shot at another Lombardi Trophy. It won't be easy to beat out the top candidates for the COTY award, but he has the pieces he need to shock the league.

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