I have a sense of optimism about the Steelers, however dimmed by the ongoing Aaron Rodgers fiasco.

Not to do great things this year, but to build a foundation for beyond. Big-picture thinking, perhaps accidentally. Diluted by employing a geriatric quarterback. (I hear Rodgers is in town for a cornhole tournament. Or maybe it’s pickleball.)

A good offensive line is being built. (It’s probably a year away from emerging. First-round pick Max Iheanachor is a project and Troy Fautanu will likely move from right tackle to left tackle.)

Third-round choice Drew Allar is the biggest talent and best bet the Steelers have had at quarterback since Ben Roethlisberger quit.

Allar is no sure thing, certainly not for this season. But he’ll be working with new head coach Mike McCarthy, a hands-on quarterbacks guru.

Hiring McCarthy is the most significant upgrade.

Mike Tomlin hadn’t been a good coach for a long time.

Despite his overhyped record of no losing seasons — which belongs to Roethlisberger more than Tomlin — Tomlin had long since prioritized megalomania over coaching excellence.

That should have been obvious when he ran off coordinators like Bruce Arians and Dick LeBeau.

Arians “retired” in 2011, or so the Steelers said, then got NFL Coach of the Year in 2012 and ‘14 and won a Super Bowl in ‘21. The Steelers should have fired Tomlin and promoted Arians. LeBeau left in 2014.

The Steelers have won three playoff games since 2014.

Tomlin didn’t want anyone on his staff who could challenge him for football expertise.

Imagine thinking you know more about defense than LeBeau, maybe the greatest mind ever on that side of the ball.

But Tomlin did, then bossed a defense that too often betrayed its talent and payroll. With a defensive coordinator (in name only) available to take the fall, most recently Teryl Austin.

Tomlin had zero offensive acumen.

The NFL is an offensive league. Score more, faster.

McCarthy gets that, and says right up front that he’ll be calling the plays. That’s Pittsburgh-style accountability.

Tomlin became more of a CEO. McCarthy is a coach.

Tomlin had a lot of success: He won a Super Bowl, lost another. Never had a losing season.

He had failures, too: No playoff wins in his last nine seasons and consistently underachieving despite lots of star-caliber players.

T.J. Watt has zero playoff victories in his nine NFL seasons. Him and Tomlin are a chicken-egg thing.

Tomlin’s teams came out flat, seemingly unprepared: outscored by a cumulative 73-3 in the first quarter of the Steelers’ last seven playoff games. The Steelers haven’t scored more than seven points in the first quarter since Week 1 of the 2022 season. That’s the last 70 games of Tomlin’s tenure.

With McCarthy replacing Tomlin, it just seems better.

It won’t be perfect. Not this year. It’s tough to truly move forward with Grandpa Game Manager at the helm.

But it will feel more like the Steelers.

That will never be more evident than when you see Tomlin do TV: impressive word salad but horse manure just dripping off the screen. His substance disintegrated long ago.

Tomlin became the wrong guy.

McCarthy is the right guy.