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Saunders: Steelers Right to Stick with Defensive Coach Success?
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- Saunders: Steelers Right to Stick with Defensive Coach Success?
The Pittsburgh Steelers are searching for a new coach after the resignation of Mike Tomlin after 19 seasons on Tuesday.
As Art Rooney II began his first coaching search as the team's principle owner, one of the hot-button questions was how devoted he would be to hiring within the clearly defined type the Steelers had established with their last three head coaches.
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Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin — the first two in the Hall of Fame, the third likely on the way, all Super Bowl winners — all had a lot in common before they became the Steelers' head coach.
All three were young. Noll was 37. Cowher was 34. So wast Tomlin. All three were first-time head coaches. All three had previously been NFL coordinators. And all three coached on the defensive side of the ball.
So Rooney was asked, obviously, if he would restrict his search to simply those candidates that met the established criteria. After all — who can argue with that amount of success?
He said that he would keep an open mind about what kind of coach the Steelers should be hiring.
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Chuck Noll gives instructions to quarterback Bubby Brister on the sidelines in Pittsburgh, Pa., during the 1988 season. Exact date and opposing team are unknown. (AP Photo/Gene Puskar)
"For now, I don't want to put any real parameters around it," Rooney said . We're going to be an open book in terms of who we look for and the list that we build. Can I sign up for another Chuck Noll, or another Bill Cowher, or another Mike Tomlin? Sure, somebody that we feel fits that mold would be great. But for now, we're not going to kind of narrow the box too much."
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Since then, the Steelers have identified eight candidates. Seven of them would be first-time NFL head coaches. Six of them are current NFL defensive coordinators. Three are in their thirties. One — Chris Shula of the Los Angeles Rams — seems to check every box. That's probably why he's the betting favorite to land the job.
But there has been a bit of undercurrent of consternation with that notion from some corners of the Steelers fanbase. Yes, the Steelers have had a ton of success in plucking young defensive coordinators to lead their squad over the years. But as the NFL has become more and more offense-driven, is that still wise in 2026?
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson and head coach Mike Tomlin during practice on Aug. 3, 2024. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
Tomlin had a Hall of Fame career, but the end of the road was not his best work, with the Steelers winning more than 10 games just once over his final seven seasons. That time period coincided with an arm injury to Ben Roethlisberger , and then the franchise misfiring on several attempts to replace him at quarterback.
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Tomlin's final years were marred by the likes of Mitch Trubisky , Mason Rudolph , Kenny Pickett , Russell Wilson and the 42-year-old remnants of Aaron Rodgers at the quarterback position. And even worse was the collection of offensive coordinators that guided them. Randy Fichtner and Matt Canada never called another play in the league after leaving the Steelers.
At the same time, certain teams have seemingly unlocked some abilities in quarterbacks around the league. Daniel Jones had a resurgence with the Indianapolis Colts this year, treading the same path from first-round pick to the cutting room floor and then back to prominence that had been already been trodden by Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield .
Those quarterbacks resuscitated their careers while playing for teams with offensive-minded head coaches, and frequently, a head coach that calls the team's offensive plays. It doesn't take a hard look around the league to see proliferation of head coaches from the trees of Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay to see that the trend has been headed that way for a while. All of the last 12 Super Bowl head coaches have been offensive-minded.
It's easy to say that the Steelers' way is out-dated and that an offensive head coach from one of those gilded coaching trees is the way that Rooney should be leaning this time around.
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But I'm not so sure that's correct.
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel in a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 21, 2026. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
Let's look closely at what's happened in the NFL this season. Patrick Mahomes , Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson missed the playoffs. Josh Allen just lost to Bo Nix and the Denver defense.
While Denver coach Sean Payton is an all-time great offensive mind, the Broncos finished third in scoring defense this season. The team they'll face in the AFC Championship Game will either be the No. 2 Houston Texans or the No. 4 New England Patriots — coached by the defensive-minded DeMeco Ryans and Mike Vrabel.
On the other side of the the bracket, the No. 1-seeded Seattle Seahawks had the league's top scoring defense, and just thrashed Shanahan's 49ers in one of the least competitive playoff games in recent memory.
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As we sit here in the middle of the second weekend of the playoffs, all of the top four defenses in the league are still alive. Nine of the top 10 defenses and 12 of the top 13 defenses made the playoffs. Only the Steelers (17th) and Chicago Bears (22nd) made the postseason with below-average defenses.
A strong offense was not nearly as predictive of team success. Yes, the Los Angeles Rams, Patriots, Seahawks and Buffalo Bills were 1-2-3-4 , but the No. 5 Detroit Lions , No. 7 Dallas Cowboys and No. 8 Indianapolis Colts all missed the postseason. The Panthers made the playoffs with the No. 27 scoring offense in the league this season.
While the big-picture trend for a number of years has gone the way of the offense, it's hard to look at the 2025 season and say anything other than that defense has dominated.
Now, I don't know if we should necessarily be giving Rooney credit for all of that. If you live as long I have (let alone as long as he has), you learn something about trends. Everything comes into, and goes back out of style. I'm sure Rooney has sweaters older than me that have had three different time periods where they could have been seen as fashionable — and probably at least two when the exact opposite was true.
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By the time most men get to their 70s, they've stopped trying to chase the trends. They've figured out what looks good on them, and they wear it. That's usually a winning strategy anyway.
The Steelers have always relied on a great defense. It's one of the cornerstones of the franchise, and Rooney has always cared a lot — maybe too much — about upholding the team's traditions.
In this case, though, that desire actually seems pretty perfectly aligned with what he'd be doing if he was trying to keep up with the Joneses.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Saunders: Steelers Right to Stick with Defensive Coach Success?
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