During his first press conference as Pittsburgh Steelers coach, Mike McCarthy admitted something noteworthy.
“I’ve been a head coach for 18 years. I’ve had one top 5 defense,” McCarthy said of his 2010 team. “We won the Super Bowl that year.”
The implication seemed to be that there was enough meat on the bone remaining from last year’s defense that he was optimistic the 2026 Steelers could have that level of expectation.
“Mike Tomlin and Omar (Khan), they’ve left me with a lot to work with. I feel good about the direction. I’m really excited about the defense,” McCarthy added. “The history of the Steelers’ defense and staying with the 3-4 is important, as far as the origin of it. That’s something we have to build off of.”
In this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of TribLive and 105.9 the X disagreed.
“The way they’re talking, it sounds like they’re assuming this defense is going to be good. I don’t see what on earth would cause them to assume that,” Madden said.
Last year’s Steelers defense was 26th overall at 356.9 yards allowed per game. It was 29th against the pass at 243.9 yards allowed per contest.
“Patrick Graham’s the most interesting hire,” Madden said of McCarthy’s new defensive coordinator. “That defense is so overpaid and so underperforming. Can he get them to do anything differently? The fact that they brought him in specifically because he’s a 3-4 guy indicates to me, probably not.”
Madden’s belief is that Graham’s biggest challenge will be to get the aging star players to live up to their paychecks.
“Is anybody going to ever tell T.J. Watt, ‘Look, you’re starting to (stink). Change it up a little bit,’” Madden said. “(Can) Patrick Graham get T.J. Watt to play different, and squeeze one more great season out of Cam Heyward? People talk about the great season he just had — second team All-Pro — but he’s a year older coming up.”
Also from the podcast, Madden and I discuss Aaron Rodgers’ future, the upcoming Super Bowl and the Penguins’ six-game winning streak.