PHOENIX — Mike McCarthy is no stranger to the format of what has become known as the coaches breakfast conducted mornings during the NFL owners meeting each spring.
Tuesday was McCarthy’s turn sitting a dining table in a ballroom with assembled media asking questions for a half hour. It was McCarthy’s 19th such coaches breakfast, his first as coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
His first foray came 20 years prior when he was a rookie 42-year-old head coach of the Green Bay Packers. That spring, the major topic of conversation was whether then-Packers 36-year-old quarterback Brett Favre would return for a 15th NFL season.
Tuesday, the first question asked of McCarthy was about… a 42-year-old quarterback and whether he will return for a 22nd NFL season.
“First time doing this, the first question was about a veteran quarterback and whether he would come back or not,” McCarthy said, chuckling at the irony.
This year, of course, that quarterback is Aaron Rodgers, who incidentally enough was Favre’s backup with those 2006 Packers.
“It was (asked) differently (in 2006) because I was just a youngster, and (this year) questions were very polite compared to the way the questions were asked back then,” McCarthy said.
Steelers coach Mike McCarthy recalled his first owners meeting media availability and the first question that day in 2006 was about a veteran future HOF QB and if he’s coming back (Brett Favre) – and 20 years later it’s the same line of questioning (Aaron Rodgers) pic.twitter.com/u6JJMxJjTx
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) March 31, 2026
McCarthy termed himself “confident” that Rodgers will return for a second season with the Steelers, “but at the end of the day, it’s a personal decision. So I think we’re in a good space.”
McCarthy on Tuesday said he spoke with Rodgers the prior evening and that they talk “regularly.”
“It’s been good, it’s been very positive,” McCarthy said of his contact with Rodgers, “and we continue to talk.”
Couldn’t pass it up
Even as a young boy growing up in Greenfield, McCarthy couldn’t have envisioned the coaching career he would end up having at football’s highest level.
“To sit here and say that… in my fifth grade diaries, I wrote down I wanted to be the head coach of three NFL teams, that’s not true,” McCarthy said Tuesday from the Arizona Biltmore resort.
The context in which McCarthy was speaking was being asked if he believed he would get another shot at being a head coach after he parted ways with the Dallas Cowboys in January 2025.
“I have confidence in my abilities, but I’m also realistic,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy was 61 at the time, coming off five seasons in Dallas that followed 13 in Green Bay — with a “gap year” in between.
Though he owns a Super Bowl ring and 174 career victories, McCarthy has presided over just one postseason win since the 2016 season. Still, he remains one of the more respected offensive minds in the sport.
“I have a lot of confidence in my education and my experience through the league and feel that I would have a lot to offer to a club,” McCarthy said. “But I’ve also been around the block a few times. I’m very comfortable in my own skin. And I’m not going to lie to you, I love being a full-time dad. I’ve been able to do it twice, you know, ‘19 and this past year. And the year off was very, very rewarding for me. So that’s why this opportunity (to coach the Steelers), just the way it came about, I had to come back. If there was ever a no-brainer opportunity in my lifetime, this was it.”